Beginnings
by OnlySlightlySane
Summary: Delta's got a new rookie running with them. Does this new member stand a chance, or is it the Carmine brothers all over again? Rated M simply for a lot of swearing and some pretty dirty jokes.
1. Authors Note

Hey, 888Poke here (Obviously) I haven't really done anything for a bit, save for my recent Transformers thing. (BTW, not pleased with it) Anyway, I just got out of school for the year about 4 days ago, so hopefully I'm going to be able to do more work.

While I was still going to classes and what not I started WRITING not TYPING a Gears of War fanfiction and it's about 57 pages of notebook paper. Yeah. So I'm getting it typed up and posted. I just have a few things to say before the story actually begins.

I re-used a character name. For those of you who remember the disaster that was called From Australia With Love, Mate! (BTW, not getting re done anytime soon...) I put in an OC named Nicola Thompson. Well, I happen to be very attached to that name and so I'm using it in my Gears fic.

Also, There are going to be a lot of moments where you will more than likely think something along the lines of, _"What the fuck was she smoking when she wrote that?" _Because: The height meausrements of the characters are rediculously un realistic. You're just gonna have to deal with that.

There will also be some moments where the characters might not exactly... be how they are. Sorry about that but hey, guess what? This is a Fan _Fiction,_ not all of the characters have to be 100% accurate. For the most part, I tried to keep them like that but in order for the story to have the desired end result, I had to change stuff around.

What else... Hmmmm...

There will be moments where people are doing stuff that is (simply put:) Bat shit crazy. That and... I have a really bad habit of sometimes making characters Bi-Polar... so one minute they'll be awesome, then they'll be kinda lame...

The action sequences are going to be kinda crappy, sorry guys. To make up for it though, there is a shit load of character interaction. (My speciality, believe it or not) So hopefully that will balance out the terrible.

Final note, I have this entire story written, I just need to type it from a copy and then edit it around on a word document, then post it. I will hopefully have at least one chapter a week. (Maybe more, but no promises)

Enjoy.


	2. Chapter 1

The COG base was a morbid place to be. The buildings were rundown, more rubble than actual structures. The sky was a permanent murky gray, a near perfect reflection of the morale of fellow Gears. Troops were in dire need if humanity was to defeat the Locust Horde. Among the Gear divisions was Delta Squad. Their leader, Sgt. Marcus Fenix along with Dominic Santiago, Agustus Cole, and Damon Baird.

Delta Squad was one of the most known among the Gears, and today Marcus was hating it.

"Aww! Why do I have to train the rook?"

A new shipment of rookies had arrived earlier in the day and Marcus had been doing his best to not be assigned a rookie.

"Marcus, being Sergeant isn't all honor and privileges. You need to do some training too! Besides, Delta is a member short and like it or not, the rookies gonna be running with ya."

Marcus glared at the officer giving him the order before storming off with a muttered "Fine."

Dom, Cole and Baird were sitting among rubble outside of their apartment, waiting for Marcus to show had been sitting there for a good hour when Dom saw a shadow above him. He looked up, expecting to see Marcus but instead saw a girl.

" Can I help you?" Dom stood up and took a quick step back when he was able to get a good look at the girl. The first thing Dom noticed was her eyes, two pools of striking emerald green that held the gaze of a war hardened soldier. She had shoulder length mocha hair that looked messy and un-brushed. She was wearing a thight fitting blue shirt, as well as a pair of dirty jeans with a worn leather belt around the waist. Dom could tell it was there for decoration, not really keeping her pants up.

Cole gave a whistle off to the right of Dom and murmured, "Damn... she's tall!" And Cole was right.

Dom stood a good six-foot five, one of the tallest members of Delta. The girl he was looking at could look him in the eyes without tilting her head up.

Her eyes met Dom's with a fierce gaze as she asked with an Alpha voice, "Are you Sgt. Fenix?" Baird stood up and gave a hearty laugh.

"Oh, I know why your here! Hey, tell me though, how much is Marcus paying you?" Baird stood beside the girl and turned bright red when he realize she was much taller than him. "Damn... you ARE tall."

She turned to Baird. "What do you mean, 'how much is Marcus paying me?'"

Baird rolled his eyes before responding, "You know, hooker fare. Girl as fine as you must cost a lot. Tell me how much so I can pay you more."

Cole turned to Baird and gave him a glare. "Dude, dick move!"

The girl however simply looked down on Baird with a gaze that would've even Marcus crap himself.

"I'll give you one chance to say you're sorry." She said quietly, as if she was talking to a five year old who just said a bad word.

"Naw, just give me a chance to get my wallet." Baird responded.

His hand made it half an inch at most to his pocket before he was hit with a solid punch to the jaw. That punch as followed by a kick in the nuts and a shove face first into the mud. The girl rested her foot on the small of Baird's back, pinning him to the ground.

"If you EVER talk to me like that again, getting killed in your sleep by a Locust will be the least of your worries." Baird whimpered and nodded and the girl pulled him up so she could look into his eyes.

"Oh, I'm Nicola. Nice to meet you."

"Well Nicola, you can put Baird down now."

Nicola dropped Baird, who made a squishing sound as he hit the mud, and faced the owner of the gruff voice she heard. He was certainly a giant among met, standing at least six-foot eight if not more. His muscles could be seen through his black tee shirt and military issue cargo pants. A green bandanna covered his head and Nicola could see short, black hair underneath. His eyes were a pretty blue-gray, yet they held the undoubted gaze of a leader. Nicola scanned his features and her eyes rested on a scar on the right side of his face, running from his cheekbone to slightly above his chin.

"Marcus, thank God your here! This chick is crazy!"

Marcus looked from Nicola to Baird before glaring at Nicola.

"I have a rookie to train, ain't got time for some idiot messing with my squad."

Nicola stood in front of Marcus and the rest of Delta whistled when they saw the comparison in size of them. Even Marcus, the fearless leader, seemed shocked at Nicola's height but his face barely showed it.

"Rookie?" Nicola asked, "Last name Thompson?"

Marcus nodded his head and crossed his arms. "Yeah, you know him?" Nicola smiled. "I take it you're Sgt. Fenix then."

Marcus frowned. "Yeah... You... You're the rookie?" Baird muttered an audible curse as Cole and Dom high-fived. Nicola just smiled and held out her hand for Marcus to shake.

"Looks like your stuck with me, eh?"


	3. Chapter 2

**Ok, I realize that last chapter was... crappy, and short. Bear with me people, bear with me. GLaDOS is looking over my shoulder telling me to make a fanfiction about her... ugh, pressure! And I realized something, usually my chapters are about 7-9 KB large but these chapters are somewhere from 5-7... so, sorry about the shortness. I own nothing, Gears of War and all related characters are property of Epic Games.**

"Come on Rook! If this wasn't a drill, you woulda been Locust fodder by now!"

Nicola had been lagging behind Marcus, exhausted by the weight of her new standard issue Gear armor. She rushed to catch up to him and as she did, several wooden targets popped up. Nicola fired a few shots from her Lancer and the targets became splinters.

"Look alive, moving targets, use your pistol."

Nicola nodded and shouldered her Lancer, pulling out her pistol in one fluid motion.

These targets were equipped with paintball guns and Nicola dove over a low wall to avoid their fire. Marcus allowed himself a smile, Gear armor had to weigh at least fifty or sixty pounds and yet Nicola was still able to move quite well. There were eight targets in all, and when they paused in their fire, Nicola popped out and destroyed three of them. Marcus quietly snuck up on Nicola, who was busy reloading her pistol, and pressed the blade of his Lancer against her neck.

"Not bad. Your accuracy is top-notch, you move well considering your armor, and you've kept a level head. All you need is to be more aware of your surroundings."

Marcus moved his Lancer away and helped Nicola to her feet.

"Hey... we... we done yet?" Nicola asked, placing a nervous hand on her neck.

Marcus undid his armor and flexed his muscles.

"Not yet. Take your armor off."

Puzzled, Nicola did as she was told. Underneath the armor Nicola wore a dingy shirt that had a faint trace of color and a pair of loose cargo pants.

"So now what?"

Marcus walked in a circle around them, dragging his heel in the dirt to mark his path.

"Knock me out of the ring."

Nicola nodded and charged at Marcus. He stepped lightly out of the way and brought his elbow down hard on her back. Nicola stifled a yelp and countered with a kick that knocked one of Marcus's legs out from under him. Marcus stumbled and Nicola rushed at him, knocking him back a foot or so. Marcus locked arms with Nicola and began to push her towards the edge of the ring. Nicola pushed back but quickly realized Marcus was significantly stronger than her. With one final shove, Marcus sent Nicola tumbling out of the ring and she landed on her butt with a soft 'Oof!'.

"Owww..."

Nicola gingerly stood up and resisted the urge to rub her tender butt. Marcus gathered up his armor and causally walked past Nicola, heading in the direction of the base.

"Haul ass, night falls soon."

Nicola walked over to her armor and carefully gathered the pieces, wincing when bending over. Nicola muttered a curse under her breath and jogged to catch up with Marcus.

"Alright Rook," He said once she caught up.

"Since you're a member of Delta Squad, you sleep in our apartment. It's the one with the red flag. Your stuff's already there, thanks to Dom. We deploy at 0900 tomorrow for a mission. Be ready."

With that, Marcus walked off leaving Nicola to trudge back to the apartment by herself. When she got there, a man with dark skin and kind eyes was waiting for her at the door with a glass of water.

"Yo, Missy Tee! Glad to see you in one piece. Give me your armor and stuff, I'll take it up to your room. Why don't you pop a squat and have some rest?"

Nicola accepted the water and mumbled a thanks. The man smiled back and carried Nicola's armor up a nearby set of stairs. Nicola walked into the apartment and found herself in a small living room. There were two sagging couches, one chair missing an arm, and a couple banged up end tables near the couches. Nicola sat on one of the couches and sipped her water. It was room temperature, but it certainly tasted cleaner than the water she drank before joining the COG.

A sudden wave of tiredness washed over Nicola and she slumped across the couch, resting her water on a nearby table. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore her aching muscles, which must have worked because the next thing she knew, someone was gently waking her. It was the same man who took her armor and gave her the water.

"Missy Tee... Hey, Nicola? Gotta be gettin up hon, can't be a snoozin on the couch."

Nicola blinked her eyes a few times and closed them again.

"Hey, you want me to get you some more water?" Nicola nodded her head sleepily.

"Well I'll go get it for ya, you sit up that way you can get to bed proper."

Cole walked into the kitchen and refilled Nicola's cup before walking back into the living room. When he got back, he gave Nicola a warm smile. She was stretched out peacefully on the couch, her breathing deep and even. Cole set Nicola's water on the table beside her before gently covering her with a blanket. He just didn't have the heart to wake her.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3! *fist pumps* Not much to say here... Hmmm... Can't wait for Gears 3 to come out... Oh, totally forgot to mention a few authors, *face palm* I wanna say 'Hi.' to the God of Insanity and his story, "Points of Authority" as well as The WolvGambit for thier various Gears stories and HyperSoft for their story "Armoured Prayer". And one final shout to my friend, Botgal. **

"Yiep!"

Nicola was woken up when the couch she was sleeping on suddenly threw her off.

"Wake up Rook, time to gear up."

Nicola climbed to her feet and seeing Marcus saluted.

"Yes sir, Sgt. Fenix!"

She climbed a set of stairs in the apartment and walked down a hallway until she saw a sigh on a door reading 'Nicola's Room.' She opened the door and walked into a small room sparsely decorated with second or third hand furniture. She found her belongings undisturbed on the bed and quickly changed clothes and put on her armor. The armor still weighed a ton, but Nicola ignored the weight and walked downstairs.

She walked into a small kitchen and was greeted by the members of Delta Squad.

"Missy Tee good maaaawn in! Have a seat, eat some breakfast, and don't spend too much time thinking about what it is."

Nicola sat in an empty chair between Dom and Baird.

"Amazon hooker." Baird greeted calmly, as if it was Nicola's name.

"Don't start shit Baird," Marcus warned. "Or the Rook here will probably finish it."

Baird's face flushed but other wise he remained silent. Breakfast was eaten in silence, save for proper introductions. When breakfast was over, Delta headed to the out skirts of the bast where they were to receive their assignment. A king Raven Gunship was waiting for them and one of the Generals briefed them on their mission.

"We have a high level of Locust activity." He said. "Delta has been assigned to neutralize it. We have however, unconfirmed reports of some new breed of locust that relies on stealth and melee attacks kill so keep your guard up."

Marcus gave Nicola's neck a tap before stating, "General, each member of Delta Squad is fit. We'll be fine." The boarded the King Raven and Nicola was given her Tac/Com.

"Don't use it to complain, or I'll shoot you myself." Marcus warned.

Nicola gave him a glare before turning to look the other way. Dom was sitting next to her, and he leaned towards her to talk.

"Nicola, don't take it the wrong way or anything. Marcus has seen men die, the last thing he wants to see is a woman die. So, what he said was his own special way of saying, 'Don't get dead.'"

Nicola turned to Dom and smiled. "Thanks," She said, "Nice to know someone cares about me I guess."

Baird sighed and called over to Nicoa. "Hey Amazon, what made you decide to be a Gear?"

Marcus tilted his head slightly in Nicola's direction, something everyone save for Nicola recognized as interest.

"Well..." Nicola began. "I don't really talk about my past much."

Baird snorted. "Well tell you what, you talk about your past, or I'll sing a Justin Bieber song."

Cole raised an eyebrow. "Aw hell Missy Tee, swallow your pride and talk!" He said, glancing at Baird.

Nicola just sighed. "I grew up in a stranded camp. Not really sure how far from Jacinto, but it can't be more than 30 or 40 miles. Loucst attacks were pretty frequent, and there wasn't a clear line between our fighters, and our civvies. I grew up raised by Daniel and Isaac, my two brothers. They... died when I was about 15, but not before teaching me a few survival pro tips. So I took their place, defended the town crap like that. Some high ranking COG officials personally asked me to join and I figured hey, not like my life can get any worse."

Nicola kinda trailed off there, leaving the others to think about what she said. After a while Baird chirped in,

"Parents? Lovers? Bastard children? What else?"

Nicola rolled her eyes. "Ugh... Both dead, ew no, just with your sister, and nothing else."

Baird threw his hands in the air, as if to say '_what the fuck_?' and his breath escaped him in an annoyed huff.

"Why does every one ALWAYS use the sister insult? I don't even HAVE a sister."

Marcus grinned. "Cause you just look so cute when you're mad, Boushkyne."

Baird threw his hands in the air again.

"Another thing that pisses me off, insulting me in a foreign language. What the hell does boushkyne mean anyway?"

Nicola placed a hand over her mouth in a failed attempt to stifle a giggle.

"Boushkyne is like... man whore... or screw toy... it's actually not a real word, it's more like South Islander slang." She said.

Baird seemed at a loss for words.

"Come on baby," Cole coaxed. "You can't let someone else have the last word."

Baird nodded and with a devilish grin scooted over and sat on Marcus's lap.

"Vell, eef I am your Boushkyne... zen talk diiiirty to me. Da?"

Marcus's face turned an interesting shade of pink before he pushed Baird off his lap.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Baird laughed and smacked Marcus's knee. "Oh admit it, I just made your day!"

Marcus was about to smack Baird when the pilot called back.

"Sgt. Fenix! ETA ten minutes!" His voice carried over the sounds of the rotors.

"Copy that. Delta, be ready to drop."

Nicola opened her eyes and peered out of the helicopter. Wasted, barren ground could be seen in every direction. When the helicopter landed, Delta Squad climbed out and Marcus went over the plans.

"Dom and Baird will do a northern sweep, spoke pattern covering each other. Cole, I want you up on high ground with a rile. Don't give away your position and watch our backs. Rook, you're with me. There's an old bunker 'bout half a klick North-East, I figure that's where the Locust are holed up."

Marcus paused for a breath before continuing.

"Avoid the bunker till we have a chance to re-group, half an hour from now give or take. Untill then, keep radio chatter to a minimum, we don't want any Locusts detecting us."

Marcus stuck his hand out, palm down and Dom placed his hand over Marcus's. Baird, Nicola and Cole followed suit.

"3... 2... 1... BREAK!"

**Cute little kiddie ending there. Nothing really special, just a little something to end the chapter. Chapter 4 gonna be out soon, review and get a cookie!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Time for chapter four! Are we excited yet? I realize sometimes the characters seem... wierd. Just roll with it.**

"Sgt. Fenix, don't go out there!"

After ducking into an abandoned store for cover during a fire fight, Marcus was about to go into the street when Nicola stopped him.

"Why? Area's clear."

Nicola put a finger to her lips and threw a rock into the street. A moment later, a strange dog-like creature fell from the sky and landed in the road.

"What the hell..?"

Marcus stared at the creature. It had 2 thick legs in the back with smaller arm-like appendages in front. It had a large head, its slack mouth formed into a snout with several rows of sharp, jagged teeth.

"Is it dead?" Nicola asked, pointing her gun at the creature.

Marcus pulled out his pistol and fired a single bullet into it's head.

"Well, " He said putting his pistol away. "It is now."

Marcus jumped into the street and motioned for Nicola to follow. They examined the body, seeing Marcus was able to shoot it between the eyes.

"Ugly son of a bitch that's for sure." Marcus stated, kicking it. "

Yeah," Nicola said. "Almost makes Baird look cute."

Marcus gave Nicola a playful punch to the shoulder. "What? Comparing this thing to Baird? Somewhere in Locust heaven this things crying in shame."

Nicola and Marcus walked off, heading towards a rendezvous point when a growl from behind them caused Nicola to turn. She was knocked to the ground and the creature they both though was dead tried to maul her. Marcus, thinking quickly, kicked it away and fired at it with his Lancer. The creature shuddered and dropped to the ground again.

"Don't take your eyes off it."

Marcus warned, firing a few more rounds into the things head /the creature appeared to e dead once again and Marcus gave it a powerful kick, sending it crashing into a nearby stone wall.

Marcus switched on his Tac/Com to call the others.

"Dom, Cole, Baird, there's some sort of mutated dog thing out there. Don't be fooled if it looks dead, these bastards can take a bullet to the head and still bite."

Nicola still watched the creature, not believing it was dead.

"Haul ass Rook, we're moving." Nicola sighed and jogged after Marcus. They were walking about 10 minutes when Cole's voice rang over the Tac/Com

"Marcus, Missy Tee, what's your ETA?"

"ETA? Hell... I don't know... soon. Why? You anxious to see me?"

Cole's booming laugh rang over the Tac/Com.

"Yeah baby, ever time I see you leave it damn near breaks my heart."

Marcus smirked.

"But you wish you were the Rook now, huh? Then it would be just you, me and a pile of dead grubs."

Cole and Marcus exchanged witty banter until Nicola had enough and pushed her way into the conversation.

"You two love birds can have Tac-Sex later, can we just focus on the mission at hand?"

Nicola turned off her Tac/Com and walked ahead.

"Why. So. Serious?" Marcus called after her.

Nicola turned around and saw Marcus had a cheesy grin on his face. Nicola was about to turn back and keep walking when a shimmer of light caught her eye. She saw movement atop a building and quickly realized it was a Locust Sniper.

"Marcus, Sniper take cover!"

They both jumped through the window of an abandoned building seconds before a bullet struck where Marcus had been standing. Nicola landed on something soft and gave a startled yelp. The thing came to life and tried to attack her. It was one of the dog things they saw earlier and in the close quarters, Marcus didn't want to shoot it or use the lancer bayonet for fear he would hit Nicola. A stray bullet from the Locust Sniper however struck the thing in the hind quarters and it shuddered to a halt, foam dripping from its mouth.

"Yech! Ugh..."

Nicola threw the creature off her and wiped the foam off her armor.

"You all right?" Marcus asked. Nicola swallowed and nodded.

"Yeah... Fine." She answered, trying to keep her breathing even.

"Dom, Cole, Baird," Marcus said into the Tac/Com, "Those dog things, shoot 'em in the ass to kill 'em." A couple quick 'Wilco's' could be heard followed by silence.

"Rook, toss me your rifle." Nicola cocked her head in confusion but did as she was told.

"Your not gonna try to hit him, are you He'll pop your head like a zit before you get a chance to aim!" Marcus gave a wolfish grin before poking her arm with the rifle.

"No he won't, you're gonna draw his fire."


	6. Chapter 5

**Aaaaaaaand! Chapter 5! I'm on a role here!**

"Marcus, Missy Tee, 'bout time you got here"

Marcus and Nicola arrived at the rendezvous with Cole, Dom, and Baird.

"Yeah Amazon, you have fun holding up Marcus? What were you two doing, anyway?"

Marcus gave a nonchalant shrug.

"We were dealing with a sniper, ain't that right Rook?"

Nicola gave Marcus a glare before standing beside Dom.

"Up yours, Fenix."

Dom rolled his eyes. "Marcus, did you have her bait the sniper?"

Marcus Smiled. 'Maaaaaaaaaybe."

"Can we get on with the mission now?" Came Baird's irritated voice.

"Yeah, here's the plan." Marcus said, all joking gone from his voice.

"The door will probably be locked from the inside. Since Rook's the thinnest, she'll climb in through a vent and unlock the door from the inside. Then we'll split up and sweep the bunker. All clear?"

The group nodded an Marcus pointed out the vent.

Nicola frowned.

"Wait, I can't fit through the vent with my armor. Can't Jack open the door?"

Marcus shook his head.

"The bunker was built to withstand forced entry, I'm sure Jack COULD open the door, but it would take a few hours if not more. So, take off your armor and climb through."

Nicola took a deep breath and began to undo her armor. Baird gave a whistle as his eyes gave a quick sweep of her body.

"Mind your eyes or I'll toss 'em down a Reavers gullet!"

She snapped at him. Nicola pulled off the vent cover and tried to climb up but couldn't get a good grip.

"Damn... anyone wanna give me a boost?"

Baird stepped forward and laced his fingers together.

"What? The mighty Amazon needs a lift?"

Nicola placed her foot on Baird's hands and used his shoulders for balance.

"Yeah, good thing someone left a midget laying around for me to step on."

Muttering a curse, Baird lifted Nicola up and helped her climb into the vent.

"Hand me my pistol, alright?"

Baird got her pistol and placed it in her hand.

"Careful, Amazon."

Nicola could be heard taking a deep breath before climbing down the vent.

"She gonna be alright with out her armor?"

Baird asked worriedly. Marcus shrugged.

"Did you throw up on the pilot the first time your rode a King Raven?"

Baird turned red as the rest of Delta laughed at him.

"Ah, stow it!" He mumbled, kicking at a dirt clod.

Inside the vent, Nicola crawled along slowly. Thick dust was in her way, stinging her eyes and constricting her air ways. Every now and then Nicola could see an errant rat rushing past. Nervous, Nicola tried to contact the rest of the team.

"Sgt. Fenix,do you read me?" Nicola heard nothing but static over the Tac/Com and paused. "Sgt. Fenix? Dom, Cole, Baird? Hello? Shit guys... answer me!" More static.

Nicola crawled faster, panicking from the static and lack of air. She came to the end and opened up the cover. She peered into the room and after determining it was clear dropped it.

"Sgt. Fenix, I've made it into the compound. Do you copy?"

She heard a garbled reply over static but couldn't decipher what Marcus said.

"Dammit! The static is too much, I can't hear you. I'm looking for the door mechanism now." Nicola did a detailed sweep of the room, taking in her surroundings.

The room seemed like at one point it was a computer lab of some sort. The shattered remains of several terminals could be seen with dust and cobwebs covering them. The walls had a pale blue wall paper that was dirty ad peeling off in places. There were two doors in the room, one of the the left and the other was under the vent.

"Hmmm... which door?" Nicola mused.

She was about to pick a door when her Tac/ Com crackled to life

"Rook! Do-...Out-...Lo-...St-...Bush-...Boo-... get-...out-..."

Nicola pressed two fingers to her Tac/Com.

"Can you repeat that?" Nicola could hear Marcus but the static garbled his message.

"Am- Sh!. It's an-...Bush! Get out!"

The static disappeared and Nicola heard nothing else. "Damn..." She mumbled and turned back to the vent. She was about to open up the door when she heard a gun cock and dove behind a computer terminal. Seconds later a hail of bullets pierced the door.

"Humansssss! Hostilesssss! Attack!"

The ragged voice of a locus reached Nicola's ears. She heard the locust enter the room and being to kick around debris. Nicola weighted her options: weather stay and hope she wasn't spotted, try to sneak past the Locust, or try to kill the Locust and jack it's gun. Nicola wished she had her armor, at least then she'd have protection from bullets. Her thoughts were interrupted as the Locust suddenly bent over the terminal she was hiding behind and its face was mere inches from hers.


	7. Chapter 6

**'Kay, here's Chapter 6. Thank you to all the people who are reading and reviewing. The next chapter is going to be a little crazy, just a heads up. Okay, in this chapter, Nicola mentions her brothers again. If you can guess where I got the names from, you get bonus points **_**AND **_**a hint about what's going to happen in later chapters.**

"Frag out! " Cole yelled, hurling a grenade toward a close-knit bunch of Locust.

One of them picked it up and was about to throw it back when Cole shot it, causing the grenade to explode pre-maturely.

"Hell yeah! Nothing stops the Cole Train!"

Out side the bunker, the Locust had planned an ambush and Delta was trying to fend them off.

A chunk of Locust landed next to Marcus right as one of them tried to shoot him with a shot gun. Marcus rushed to re-load his Lancer and in his haste jammed the gun.

"Aw shit!" He mumbled to himself.

The Locust was practically on top of him now, so he needed to improvise . Grabbing the Locust chunk, Marcus shoved it into his attackers face. The Locust jerked back and fell ass first into the dirt.

"Surprise! Its' your birthday!"

Marcus yelled and raised his boot to curb-stomp the Locust's nuts. The Locust let out a loud, feminine yelp and tossed its gun high into the air. Marcus expertly caught the gun and pointed it at the Locusts head.

"Nighty night." He whispered with a sneer, and pulled the trigger.

The locusts head exploded from its shoulders and the front of Marcus's armor was covered in a mist of blood.

"Ugh... Messy." He said with disdain.

The last Locust was taken down by an accurate rifle shot from Dom. The rest of Delta stood by the bunker, wiping blood and entrails from their armor.

"Where the hell was Amazon? Didn't you tell her we got ambushed?" Baird asked with malice. Marcus nodded.

"She better have a damn good reason for not helping us."

* * *

><p>"Sgt. Fenix... Dammit, answer your TacCom! Shiiiiiit!"

Nicola was walking through the bunker, haven taken so many twists and turns she wasn't sure which was she was supposed to be going. Locusts were everywhere inside, and Nicola couldn't engage them alone. She was able to pick up a Hammerburst rifle but it only had half a clip left. Nicola turned a corner and came face-to-face with a Boomer.

"Ah... Room service?"

Either luck was on her side, or the Boomer was just as surprised to see Nicola inside the bunker. The Boomer stared dumbfoundedly at Nicola, allowing her to slip past and rush down the hallway. Nicola heard the Boomer shift its gun at her level.

"**BOOM**!" Its voice called out.

Nicola was able to duck around a corner in time to avoid the main blast but couldn't avoid the shrapnel from the ricochet.

Thankfully none of the shrapnel pierced her skin but it still burned. Nicola did a quick scan of her surroundings and realized with a gasp she walked into a dead end. She was at the end of a narrow hallway, and behind her was a re-enforced door. Nicola felt the Boomer's footsteps and soon its ugly form came into view.

"Heh... Heh!" It wheezed and then aimed its gun right an Nicola's head. "**Boom**!"

Time seemed to slow down for Nicola as her body reacted , spurred by adrenaline and years of training. Nicola sprinted towards the Boomshell and ducked under it. She felt the searing metal graze her shoulder and let out a strained hiss before tackling the Boomer and climbing onto its back. The Boomer grunted and stupidly charged forward, crashing through the security door. Nicola found herself in what appeared to be the main entrance to the bunker but quickly wished she had been able to slip out through the vent.

The entrance was smeared in blood, and the smell was revolting. Bits of bones and bodies littered the room as well as smashed, torn up furniture. Huddled together in one corner of the room were three Reavers, their hungry eyes focused on Nicola.

"Shit..." She muttered.

The Reavers leapt at her and the Boomer, claws whirling. Nicola, being lighter on her feet, was able to dive out of the Boomer however, wasn't so lucky.

The Boomer dropped, its head sliced neatly from its shoulders. One of the Reavers began to devour the Boomer corpse, the other tow advanced slowly on Nicola.

"Rook! God dammit, where are you?" Marcus's angry voice rang over the Tac/Com. Nicola hastily placed a hand to her Tac/Com to respond.

"Oh thank god! You have no idea how glad I am to hear your voice! This place is crawling with Locusts and three Reavers have me cornered."

Marcus could be heard swearing over the Tac/Com. "Hang on, we're gonna get you out somehow."

Two of the Reavers charged Nicola and she leapt away. Nicola aimed her pistol at one of the Reavers and fired off three shots at it, but the bullets didn't seem to have any effect. The Reaver Nicola let out a feral screech of annoyance and wildly slashed at her with its long claws. She rolled to the side at the last minute and ducked under the second Reaver, firing a couple of shots into its underbelly.

By this time, the third Reaver was done with the Boomer and lashed at Nicola as well, successfully landing a blow on the shoulder that was grazed by the Bombshell. Nicola clutched the would and tried to make it to the shattered security door, hoping she could lose them in another room. However, the Reavers had other plans and with a swipe to the side, Nicola was sent flying to a far wall. The Reavers backed her into a corner, cutting off all possible exits. Nicola closed her eyes and calmly sat, waiting for death.

_Damn_, she thought,_ A whole two days as a gear. Isaac and Daniel would be proud of me._


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven! Let me know what you think of the action here, and if I made Nicola seem too unrealistic.**

"Leave it to me, walls crumble at the might of the Cole Train!"

"Yeah right, Cole! Last wall you broke was when you were fifteen!"

"Funny, your sister would beg to differ."

"Cole, Baird, shut up. Talking about how long its been since you've gotten lucky won't save the Rook now, will it? Where did Dom run off to?"

Marcus looked around, trying to spot Dom.

"Dom, get your ass out here!" He called.

As if summoned by magic, Dom came around the corner carrying twin Boomshots.

"Y'alls still need to open that door?"

Marcus grinned. "Hell yeah, way to pack heat!"

Marcus took one of the Boomshots and leveld it at the security door. Baird and Cole stepped back as Dom aimed his gun.

"Ready Marcus?"

Marcus nodded.

"Three... Two... One... Go!"

Now, that door was strong. It certainly could've survived a Boomshell. Hell, it probably could've survived two shots. But Dom and Marcus didn't just fire two shots, they aimed right for the center of the door and expended the guns. Poor door didn't stand a chance.

The door exploded inward, Marcus could briefly see a Reaver get squished as the door smashed it against a wall. Marcus and Dom dropped their Boomshots and rushed in, Lancers ready with Cole and Baird following suit. The other two Reavers still had Nicola pinned in the corner.

"Yo Squidbillies!" Cole called out.

"Why don't you try lickin' you chops at some dark meat?"

The Reavers turned to face Cole. Marcus expected Nicola to use this as an opportunity to to escape, but Nicola had other ideas. She climbed up onto the back of the Reaver closest to her and grabbed its long claws as reigns.

"Hell yeah Missy Tee! You show that overgrown squid who's boss!"

The Reaver began jerking around, trying to buck Nicola off. She held on, screaming like a twinky surrounded by starving fat people. The other Reaver tried to help its friend, swirling its claws like the maw of a blender. Nicola used her Reavers claws to fly over Deltas heads and out the front door of the second Reaver flew after it and the two of them engaged in mid-air combat.

"Shit, Nicola's screwed!" Dom yelled.

Now, Reavers aren't very smart, they only know three things: Eat when hungry, Protect their rider, and kill. Nicola was the Reavers rider for all intensive purposes, and there fore it's primal instinct was to protect her.

"Maybe not..." Marcus said slowly. "ROOK, CATCH!" He yelled, then threw his Lancer high into the air.

Nicola pioleted the Reaver around and skillfully caught the gun.

"Woah... Is she even human?" Baird gaped in wonder at the sky, watching as nicola pioleted her Reaver in a dangerous waltz with the other.

"Well hey," Dom began. "Marcus and I stole a Brumak. Remember?"

Delta remained transfixed, gazing at the two dancing Reavers. Suddenly, they both fell from the sky and landed in a heap, thirty feet away from Delta.

Dom was the first to rush to the two downed Reavers. The others follwed suit and saw Nicola standing, teetering side to side, but still standing.

"Hey yooooou goiz..." She called weakly.

Nicola, still armor less, was covered in the blood and entrails of the two dead Reavers.

"Damn... eres una chica loca." Dom shook his head slowly, trying to keep a straight face.

"Uh... thanks... I think?" Nicola sat down and rested her head in her hands.

"Nice aeronautics display, Rook." Nicola looked up and gave everyone a weak smile.

"Thanks... Hey... Can someone get my armor?"

Baird helped Nicola up and let her lean against him for support.

"Let the Cole Train get you things, Missy Tee. You just try to keep your breffast down."

"And don't lean against me so much, God! Wat are you trying to do, knock me down?"

Nicola was too tired and shaken to reply. Cole cam jogging over with Nicola's armor and handed it to her.

"There. Now you gonna be all snug and secure!"

Nicola slowly put her armor on while Marcus radioed out. After a shot conversation with Anya, it was determined Delta would be returning back to base and another team was going to pick off the remaining Locust troops.

Delta didn't seem to think that was such a bad idea.


	9. Chapter 8

**Hey, really short chapter, I know. This is just here to sort of give a look into what Nicola's room is like. Also to see what she brought from home and what not. Three more pages of notebook paper to go before I can just prop a book against my computer instead having to type it off of loose pages sitting in my lap. Going to start making major progress typing this thing.**

"Dibs on the shower! I swear to God I'll shoot anyone who tries to fight me for it!"

Baird and Nicola didn't get off to a good start, not by a long shot. Day two wasn't shaping up to be any better. On the Raven, Nicola had been complaining about feeling nauseous. Baird started teasing her, Nicola retorted back, the argument heated up and Nicola ended up hurling on Baird. "Get 'cho shower man, ain't no one wanna be covered in puke longer than they have to.

"Sorry Baird..." Nicola muttered apologetically.

Baird said nothing, walking past her and down a flight of stairs Nicola assumed led to a bathroom.

"Well Missy Tee, take your armor off. Stay a while."

Nicola nodded and walked up stairs to her room. Earlier that morning Nicola never got a chance to examine her room, so she did so now as she removed her armor. Her room was small and sparsely decorated. A small cot lay against a far wall, sitting under a dirty window. The bed had a small foot locker sitting at the end of it. A faded dresser was to the left of the cot.

Nicola opened the foot locker ad carefully placed her armor inside. She then looked around for a duffel bag she brought from home. The bag was resting on top of the cot and Nicola decided it was an invitation to sit down. The mattress was soft, but much too soft for Nicola;s taste. Nicola could feel the springs and frame beneath her and shifted her position. The mattress creaked as she did and Nicola let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Great... I'll never sleep on this..." Nicola opened up her duffel bag and carefully emptied its contents onto the bed. Scratch that, HER BED. Like it or not, Delta's apartment was her home now.

Inside the bag, Nicola packed a few basic shirt/pants combinations as well as undergarments and a jacket. Nicola also had a picture of her and her two brothers, a small journal and two packs of pencils. There was a colorful woven scarf that had once belonged to her mother and an old sketch book belonging to her father. Six of the pages in the sketch book were used, the first four pages had pictures drawn by Nicola's father, and the other two Nicola drew herself.

Nicola folded her clothes and put them in the top drawer of the dresser, undergarments in the second, and her scarf, sketch book, picture of her and her brothers, and packs of pencils in the third drawer. The journal she placed under her mattress. The now empty duffel bag was placed atop the foot locker. Nicola laid down on the bed and tried to get comfortable. The pillows were soft, but very thin. A tattered quilt covered the bed and although it wasn't the prettiest thing, it sure did look warm. Nicola closed her eyes and yawned as a wave of tiredness washed over her. She decided, tomorrow would be a good day.


	10. Chapter 9

**Hey you guys! Thanks to all of you who are reading an reviewing. This is going to be the last chapter I upload for a couple weeks. I'm leaving for Connecticut in a few days and I wont have time to work on my fics. Well... I will, but I'll have to type them up in my E-mail and I wont be able to post them becuase the computer I use is a stationary one and it's not like I can take it with me. And I'm sure the people I'm visiting wont appriciate it if I'm saving stuff onto thier computer. But, I might work on some one shots while I'm there and plop 'em into my mail untill I get back to save 'em proper. Anywho, enjoy!**

It was no surprise that Marcus was the last one out of the shower. Baird used being hurled on as an excuse to use all the hot water so its not like Marcus could have a relaxing shower anyway. Marcus left the shower and went to the living room. Baird and Dom were there moving a large T.V. onto what appeared to be a new entertainment stand.

"What the hell is this? Extreme home makeover?" Marcus growled.

Baird made a _tsk_! sound. "Naw, man," He answered in his know-it-all voice. "You know Beck?" Well he was in a gambling mood and we got some new furniture." Marcus sighed and placed a hand over his eyes.

"Well look at the bright side. Now we can play that old Atari Anthony left us."

Dom looked at Baird. "The Atari? You mean the one with like... Two cartridges?"

Baird responded with a sheepish grin. "Well... It's not like we have cable." Marcus sat down and listened to the conversation with a smile.

"Well... Why don't we hook up a DVD player? I have a couple movies." Dom stated.

Baird rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Spanish movies. You and Cole are the only ones fluent in Spanish."

Marcus decided to fuel the conversation. "How about Dom borrows Sabre's X-Box?"

Dom stared at Marcus. "Are you high? We all hate Sabre!"

Baird laughed and slapped Dom on the back. "Yeah, go ask Sabre. You know she has a soft spot for you."

Dom glared at Baird. "How about Marcus goes?"

Marcus, who had been chuckling before now fixed Dom with a hard glare.

"No." He said flatly.

Dom and Baird began to tease Marcus until Nicola walked into the living room.

"Yo, Amazon! What do you think about the T.V.?"

Nicola looked at the T.V. and shrugged. "'Sall right I guess. Wouldn't know, I've never watched T.V. before."

Dom nodded but Baird's jaw dropped. "Seriously? Damn. Grow up in a cave or something?"

Nicola glared at Baird. "No, a Stranded camp."

Baird looked down. "Ah... Yeah... Dick choice of words..." He said quietly.

Cole walked out of the kitchen holding a knife. "Hey yo! Dinners ready!"

Marcus walked into the kitchen followed by Baird. Dom was ahead of Nicola bur bowed slightly beside the door and gestured for her to go first.

"Thanks." She said with a smile.

There were two open seats, one on either side of Marcus. Nicola chose the one to the right, next to Cole.

"Glad of you to join us, bon appetit!" Nicola looked at her plate. There was some sort of stringy meat over a small portion of rice. A glass of water sat next to the plate with three ice cubes inside.

"Don't you worry now Missy Tee, I cooked everything myself and I assure you: Everything is in fact, edible."

Nicola sniffed a spoonful of her dinner and crinkled her nose slightly.

"So Cole," Baird asked with a mockingly polite voice. "What's for dinner? Reaver or road kill?"

Cole simply glared at Baird. "Your sister. Shut up and eat."

Nicola was aware everyone at the table was nonchalantly watching her, trying to gauge her reaction to Cole's cooking. Saying a silent prayer, Nicola tried her dinner. Whatever the hell it was, it was way too spicy. Nicola closed her eyes and frowned.

"Well Cole, looks like we finally found someone who doesn't like your cooking."

Nicola swallowed her bite of dinner and tried to clear her throat. However, doing this simply made the spicy kick worse and Nicola began to cough and gag.

"You all right?" Cole asked, standing up.

"Yaaaah... Spicy... Too spicy!" Nicola wheezed in response.

Baird started to laugh and Cole sat back down with a small grin. Marcus pushed Nicola's water closer to her and stood up.

"Drink that, slowly."

Nicola slowly sipped her water while resisting the urge to down it in one gulp. Meanwhile, Marcus went over to the counter and filled a plate with rice that hadn't been mixed in with the meat. He brought the plate over to Nicola and sat it in front of her with out a word.

"Thanks Marcus." Nicola said quietly. Marcus shrugged and sat back down, slowly finishing his dinner.

Dom and Cole split Nicola's plate and passed what they didn't want to Barid. Dinner was eaten in relative silence, the only sounds were the clink of silverware or the tap of a glass being set on the table.

"Is it always this quiet?" Nicola asked after a while.

"Pretty much." Marcus answered in a monotone voice.

"Oh." Nicola thought about dinner at home and felt a slight wave of home sickness. As if he could read her mind, Dom prompted Nicola with a friendly question.

"What was dinner like where you're from?"

Nicola smiled, albeit a bit uncomfortably, and began to explain the dinner system back home.

"Usually we didn't have enough to go around... But, we were happy I guess. We talked about our day, what the little ones did... Who was the biggest idiot. Stuff like that. Food was scarce, and when we found extra the little ones thought it was magic."

Nicola smiled at her now-empty plate. Baird stood up and took everyone's empty plates to the kitchen sink.

"Dom, Cole, hurry up so I can start dishes." He said in annoyance.

Nicola still sat at the table, unsure what to do.

"Rook, you get a chance to look around yet?" Nicola looked at Marcus and shook her head.

"Hmm... Alright then. I guess I'll show you around. Fill you in on how things work around here."

Nicola shrugged her shoulders and followed Marcus out the front door of the apartment. Night was falling and large lights were lighting the area.

"Those are the flood lights we use to keep any Kryll that might be in the area away." Marcus said pointing to several lights. "The main ones turn off at eight P.M. Make sure you're somewhere safe by then, other wise you're pretty SOL."

Nicola nodded in understanding.

"Alright then, let's start the tour."


	11. Chapter 10

**Hello! I know it's been a while since I've updated, sorry there. But I'm back home now and hopefully will have more time on my hands, eh? 'Course, I'm going to be at my dads the rest of the summer and I don't have quite the internet access there... But, I'll figure something out! Chapter 10, read and enjoy!**

The COG base was bigger than Nicola had initially thought. There was the main building of course, where Chairman Prescott and other high-ranking officials could be found throughout the day. There was a gym, Communications building, several scattered apartment areas where the Gears slept, a small area for women and children, the warehouse division which included several garages and developmental labs, some fields that seemed to be used for Thrashball, a communal mess hall, medical facilities and a couple of run-down bars.

At each place, Marcus paused to give a brief description about what all went on, but other than that was brutally quiet during the tour. Nicola would try to initiate conversation with him, but Marcus would either give her one word answers, or simply ignore what she was saying. While Nicola was walking, she noticed some of the men had trouble keeping their eyes to themselves.

"I knew a girl back home with a shirt that said, 'Keep looking at me. I might do a trick.' These guys think I'm going to pull out some knives and start juggling or something?"

Marcus looked Nicola in the eyes for just a moment then looked away. "Hate to tell you this, we're fighting a war here, and men are known to think with their dicks rather than heads."

Nicola huffed. "Great." She muttered so low Marcus could barely hear her. "Bad enough Sean was always trying to get into my pants back home."

Marcus chose to ignore her comment, figuring he wasn't really meant to hear it anyway.

"Once your COG tags come in though, you shouldn't have to worry. Having a set of tags brings some respect. Especially if they say you're running with a team as respected as Delta."

Nicola rolled her eyes. "Remind me to invest in an ass guard."

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Awfully sick sense of humor there." He stated calmly.

Nicola didn't reply.

Marcus glanced at an old, cracked watch on his wrist. "Half an hour till the main lights go off... Time to head back."

"Main lights?" Nicola asked and turned to follow Marcus.

"Yeah. Main lights keep the streets and stuff lit to keep any Kryll that might be in the area at bay. Secondary lights are shone just on and around buildings and residential areas. Secondary lights turn on about five minutes before the Main lights turn off. That way the base is never in total darkness."

Nicola nodded in understanding. "We had a similar system back home," She began. "Except most of our buildings were underground so the Kryll wouldn't be able to find them anyway."

By this time Marcus and Nicola were only about a block from the apartment and Nicola was kinda glad. Although Marcus did do a decent job as tour guide, she didn't feel comfortable with all the silence.

Back at the apartment, Baird was sitting on the floor with various wires and pieces of machine littered about him. In the middle was what looked like some sort of game console husk.

"Marcus. Amazon." He greeted without looking up.

Footsteps could be heard on the stairs and moments later Dom came downstairs carrying a DVD player.

"If you kill my DVD player, I will set your Atari on fire." He said coldly and handed it to Baird.

"Technically, It's Anthony's, not mine." Baird replied as Marcus carefully stepped past him and into the kitchen. Nicola walked over to one of the sagging couches and sat down.

"Who's Anthony?" She asked.

The sound of the fridge could be heard opening and closing from the kitchen. Marcus walked back into the living room with a beer in his hand.

"Anthony was one of the Carmine brothers. He was killed in action a while back." Marcus sat on the couch next to Nicola and opened bottle.

"Oh... How many Carmine's are there?"

Marcus took a swig of his beer.

"Three. Anthony, K.I.A. Benjamin, K.I.A. And Clay, still alive."

Baird chose that moment to chime in. "Like GLaDOS, except he's not as much of a bitch."

Dom rolled his eyes. "Dude, Portal was a crap game. No one except you would make a reference to it."

Nicola felt the mature half of her brain fighting and losing to her immature half.

"Spaaaaaaaaaaace..." She said just loud enough Dom could hear her.

"Ugh... I stand corrected." He sighed. Baird laughed until his hands were shaking to the point he knocked over the Atari he was working on.

"Oh! Damn..." He muttered and began to hastily put the components back in their proper order. Dom smiled and walked off. While Dom's back was turned, Baird flipped him a quick bird before returning to his work.

"Baird, what are you doing with the Atari and DVD player anyway?" Marcus asked and sat his beer on a coffee table.

"Well," Baird started as he dismantled the DVD player. "I am combining the Atari and DVD player."

Marcus gave a short laugh. "Are you sure that will work?"

Baird huffed in annoyance. "Of course it will work, Marcus. Just wait, by morning we'll be watching movies, listening to music, and playing video games from the same console."

Nicola raised her hand in the air slightly. "Wouldn't is just be easier to unplug them when you want to switch?"

Baird stood up and stretched. "Yeah, but the DVD player isn't compaaaaaa-"

Baird yawned at this point and placed a hand over his mouth to stifle the yawn.

"Atable with the T.V." Nicola nodded and glanced over at Marcus.

"Ya know, I was planning on stretching out on the couch." Marcus jerked his thumb to the opposite couch. "Plenty of room over there. Besides, this is my couch, move your ass."


	12. Chapter 11

After watching Baird work on his franken console baby for a good half hour, boredom was slowly getting to Nicola. The apartment was simply too quiet for her elegant taste.

"So, uh... What do you guys do in your spare time anyway?"

Marcus, who Nicola assumed to be asleep on "His Couch", answered her.

"You're looking at it." He shifted positions on the couch before continuing.

"During the day is alright, but nights are pretty boring because of the Kryll. All we can do is chill here with a couple of beers."

"Or you could get a hobby. Do something other than take up spaaaaaaaaaace."

Baird said, though Nicola couldn't tell if he was yawning or making another Portal reference.

"Hey, so far the Rook here's earned her keep. Don't hassle her too much."

Baird looked over at Marcus with a smile on his face.

"Oooooh! Sounds like someone's taken a liking to the new girl. Should I give you a moment?"

Nicola was torn between laughing or crapping herself when she saw the expression Marcus had on his face.

"I keep my personal and professional life separate, thank you." He said with venom.

"Yeah? Not what Sabre said..."

Aparently, one of the many things Marcus was known for was keeping a level head in stressful situations. Baird was known for picking at a person until they either blew Baird's head off his shoulders, or their own. From Nicola's perspective, Baird was winning.

"Shut up or I'll shove your toolbox so far down your throat you'll be shitting out screws for a month." Marcus growled.

Baird smiled. "Admit it Marcus, you and Sabre were more than just teammates. Hell... I'm willing to bet you were... shall we say, "Mate" mates? Hmmmm?"

Marcus's eyes had an interesting glint in them. A glint she had only seen in movies when the psycho was about to kill the virgin and feed their corpse to the pet spiders. Baird must have realized something was up, because he frowned.

"Uh... Too far?"

Marcus nodded.

"I'm going to get punched, aren't I?"

Another nod.

Nicola stood up and walked over to the stairs.

"Well," She said with fake enthusiasm. "I'll let you two love birds figure this out on your own. G'night!"

Marcus and Baird were too busy arguing and trying to kill each other to pay Nicola mind as she walked up the dark stairs.

Nicola strained her eyes in the darkness and felt the wall, trying to find a light switch. When she found none, she staggered slightly in the darkness, wondering how she was going to find her room. A door further down the hall opened and the area was flodded in light.

"Oh, Nicola, still up?"

It was Dom comming out of his room. He was wearing a pair of cut-off shorts and no shirt. The light from his room spilled into the hall but it was still to dark for Nicola to make out Dom's face.

"Yeah, not for long though I'm off to bed now. Uh... Where's the hall light?"

Dom chuckled and opened his door more. "There is no hall light."

Dom stepped into the hallway and pointed into the darkness.

"I take it you're looking for your room?"

Nicola smiled. "Yeah. I'm kinda lost."

Dom returned Nicola's smile.

"Second door past the bathroom." He said helpfully.

Nicola placed a hand on the back of her neck.

"How am I supposed to remember where that is in the darkness?"

Dom walked over to Nicola and held out his arm for her.

"Allow me to guide you then."

Nicola took a hold of Dom's arm and allowed him to walk her down the hall.

"If you feel the wall as you walk, you'll come to a door that grooves inward instead of out. That's the bathroom. Then one groove... Two groove... Your room."

Nicola felt for a door know and opened the door. Flipping a switch inside the room, Nicola found Dom was right.

"Cool beans. Well, goodnight Dom."

Dom smiled. "Goodnight Nicola, sleep tight."

Nicola stepped into her room and quietly closed the door behind her. She lay in bed for several minutes, thinking of the days events. She gave a final yawn before turning out the light by her bed. It took Nicola a few minutes to actually fall asleep, but she soon did, oblivious to the fight between Marcus and Baird.

**Sorry it took me to get this chapter posted. I've lost the notebook this story is written in, and I really don't want to re-type it so... Consider this story on hiatus. Sorry you lot who've been enjoying the story so far.**


	13. Chapter 12

**I'm soooooooo sorry it's taken me this long to update... I just haven't wanted to work on this story. I'm really sorry I've let you guys who actually like the story down. I can't promise a good work ethic... I feel terrible... Mostly I feel terrible because the story hasn't been updated b/c I'm lazy... I hope you guys can forgive me...**

When Nicola awoke, it was to faint sunlight streaming in through her window. She sat up and looked around her room, as if she was expecting it to change.

"Damn..." She muttered to herself, "I can't believe I'm really here... Daniel, Isaac... Please, watch over me and give me strength..."

Nicola climbed out of bed and began to change out of her dirty clothes. The room was chilly and Nicola shivered as the cold air brushed against her bare skin. When Nicola was done, she opened the door and was going to bring her clothes downstairs when she saw a basket with a hand written sign above it.

"'Dirty laundry here'. Convienent."

Nicola dropped her clothes in the basket and walked downstairs. The apartment was empty, to her dismay for she liked to socialize in the morning but didn't let the lack of other humans stop her from doing so.

"And so Watson said to Gearald..." She muttered as she dug around in the cabinets and pantry. There wasn't much in the food department, just some dry cereal, canned soup and some bread.

"Damn... Feast fit for a king. Aren't I spoiled?"

Nicola looked around the kitchen and found a box of appliances on the counter and dug around for a toaster. She found one, and after careful scrutiny determined it was in fact, safe to make toast with.

When her toast was done cooking, it popped into the air, did a couple of cute back flips and then Nicola skillfully caught it.

"Nine on the flips, ten for sticking the landing buddy." She praised to the toast, then took a bite.

When she was done with her toast, Nicola decided she would take a walk around the base, maybe find Baird and annoy him. For a moment when she reached the door, she considered simply staying at the apartment, but her need to socialize got the best of her and she opened the door and stepped into the morning air. Nicola walked around for what had to have been the better part of an hour, before realizing she was hopelessly lost. She knew her way back to the apartment of course, but she had managed to get herself turned around in the warehouse district .

"Hey Babe, you lookin' a little lost."

A man with red hair and blue eyes stood leaning against a wall. His hands were tucked into the pockets of an old, faded leather jacket.

"Tell me where you're goin', I'll help ya get there."

This man looked like a sleaze ball, Nicola knew how to spot them from years of experience. But she also knew she needed directions like a Facebook addict needed a phone.

"Trying to get to the comms area. Mind pointing me in the right direction?" The man stood up and walked over to Nicola, a false attempt at a warm smile on his face.

"Hell Babe, I'll walk ya there myself. I personally don't trust this place, never know what asshole's gonna shit himself outta thin air."

Nicola nodded.

"True that. I got a feeling one just did."

The man looked at Nicola and smiled to hide his disdain.

"Yeah? Watcha mean by that?"

Nicola looked at him with a poker face.

"I'm implying you're one of those assholes." She calmly stated.

The man glared at Nicola and bared his teeth.

"Well, shit you're right. Time for me to act like it. Pretty girl like you knows her place, right?"

He reached out to touch Nicola, only to have his hand slapped away.

"No touching pal." The man glared at Nicola.

"Women are good for two things: Sandwiches and fucking. But I don't want a sandwich right now."

Nicola turned away from the man and walked away.

"Damn, you're an asshole, and disgusting. It's a fucking miracle if I haven't caught something just from talking to you."

Nicola had gone maybe two steps when the man grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. He aimed a punch for her face which Nicola was able to dodge and counter with a punch of her own.

The man clutched his nose and walked away, cursing.

"What, bitch!" Nicola yelled after him. "I'm just getting started!"

From above her, Nicola heard laughter that sounded oddly familiar.

"Hey Amazon, just whip out a bow and shoot him in the knee."

Nicola looked up and saw Baird clinging to the side of a building with a tool belt.

"Hate to break it to ya Baird," She began with a smile. "This ain't Skyrim." She said, still smiling.

Baird climbed down from the building and returned Nicola's smile. "So Amazon, you wanna help me fix an Armadillo?"


	14. Chapter 13

**Here's the next chapter. Rapid updates, I know. I was up till one in the morning last night working on this puppy, just for you guys.**

Fixing an Armadillo was fun, but hard. Back home, NIcola did a little bit of everything, even fixing machines. But the Armadillo Nicola and Baird were fixing seemed broken beyond repair. The undercarrige was all tore up with several chunks gone, the rear axel was cracked, transmission was shot and the engine needed serious work. To make matters worse, Baird kept making snide comments.

"Baird, just shut up already!"

Nicola and Baird wer eside by side trying to repair the undercarrige.

"I'm just saying-" Baird began.

"And I'm saying you need to shut up already! Pass me the sprocket wrench."

Baird carefully scooted out from underneath the Armadillo and passed Nicola the wrench.

"When you're done, go ahead and wash up."

Baird walked over to a nearby sink and started to scrub the dirt and grease from his hands.

"What? You're not working anymore?"

Baird took a towel and dried his hands.

"Yeah, I'm gonna see if Cole's still playing Thrashball."

Nicola began to scoot out from under the Armadillo when she felt something sharp brush against her cheek bone.

"Ow!" She exclaimed.

Baird looked over at Nicola and raised an eyebrow.

"You alright? Hit your head?"

Nicola sat up and smiled at Baird.

"I'm alright."

Nicola felt a warm liquid trickling down her cheek and absent mindedly brushed the back of her hand against her cheek. She looked at her hand and saw it was red.

"Uh..."

Baird sighed and took ahold of Nicola's other hand and pulled her to her feet. He then took a clean hand towel and pressed it gently to the cut.

"Hold that against your cut, not too much pressure though."

Baird walked over to a cabinet and took out a bottle of clear fluid and a few cotton balls. He was about to close the cabinet when he seemed to have second thoughts and took a package of band-aids out as well.

"Well, this is going to burn like a mother, and try not to move too much. This cut is really close to your eye and I don't want to get the stuff in it."

Baird moved the towel away frome NIcola's face, wiping away some extra blood as he did.

"I'm fine. I don't need all this attention."

Baird chuckled.

"What? You think I'm going to go all Dr. Josef Heiter on you or something?"

Nicola rolled her eyes.

"No, it's just the fact I've only been here two days and some change and I've already managed to look like an idiot more that noce."

Baird dabbed at the cut with a cotton ball.

"Eh, no big deal. Chronic Rookie Syndrome. Just don't get dead and you'll be fine."

Baird took a dry cotton ball and dabbed it against the cut. Nicola sighed.

"It's not that. I was basically doing front-line stuff back home. Nearly every other day there was a locust raid and I kept the m at bay with just a few other people. Here for some reason I feel..."

Nicola frowned, struggling for words. Baird placed the band-aid over the cut and smiled in sad understanding.

"You feel overwhelmed, don't you?" He said gently.

Nicola nodded.

"I'll tell you a secret." Baird said with a sad, serious tone.

"I've only been alive for twenty-three years, not nearly as long as some of the hariy-assed veterans we've got floating around. And I've been part of this war for about two or three now. Now, there's only so much to see in twenty-three years but... I think life is still pretty overwhelming."

Baird took the medical supplies and walked back to the cabinet. Nicola lightly touched the band-aid on her cheek.

"Gee Baird, I thought you were supposed to be an ass."

Baird smiled as he placed the medical supplies in the cabinet. He turned to Nicola and helped her to her feet.

"Yeah, I am an ass. So don't ruin my reputation by saying I was nice or anything."

Nicola smiled and placed a hand on the back of her neck.

"Well hey," Baird began. "Let's go see what Cole's up to."


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter fourteen. Not much to say now I guess since I've gotten all the sorrow out of my system. Enjoy and as always, read and review!**

"Cole! How's the game going?" Cole was sitting on the edge of one Thrashball field, his eyes closed and shirt soaked in sweat. Cole opened his eyes slowly when he heard Baird's voice.

"Iss kowin." He murmered weakly.

Nicola glanced down at the field.

"Which team's yours?" She asked.

Cole stretched out his muscles and cracked his knuckles, then neck.

"The one on the right."

Baird smiled then took of his goggles, passing them to Cole.

"You rest up man, I'll take your spot."

Cole grunted and thanks and Baird jogged down and joined Cole's team.

"Give 'em hell, Baird!" Nicola called after him.

He gave a wave in Nicola's general direction and took his spot on the field.

"So Missy Tee," Cole said after a brief pause. "What all you been doin' today?"

Nicola shrugged.

"Eh, getting into shit fights with a ginger... Helping Baird fix an Armadillo... Typical girl stuff."

Cole chuckled before taking his shirt off and leaning back in the grass. Nicola glanced over and could see Cole's chest and stomache wer ecovered in scars.

"Decorated veteran, huh Cole Train?" She asked jokingly.

Cole gave a small chuckle.

"Looks like you're trying to win a medal too. What with your, eye patch there. Your mystery ginger have anything to do with that?"

Nicola's face flushed and she rolled her eyes.

"No, Armadillo bit me. Silly accident, nothing major."

Cole clicked his tongue in acknowledgement.

"Yeah, gotta be careful fixin' them. Baird's came home many a times with scratches from them. 'Specially the undercarrige repairs. The undercarriges have a habit of shatering on us. Must have something to do with the mines an' Tickers that jump out on 'em."

For some reason, Cole's non-chalance amused Nicola and she smiled.

"You guys aren't as hairy-assed as you lead everyone to believe, are you?"

Cole began to laugh.

"No sirre Missy Tee. Cameras aren't rollin', so we're a LOLin'!"

Nicola Derp!-faced.

"Don't ever rhyme again. Just... Don't. It's creepy..."

Nicola looked down at the Thrashball game, trying to find Baird.

"Does Baird have any family?"

Cole stood up and stretched his legs.

"Fars as I know, none. There was a rumor a while back that he had a kid... Doubt it though, scrawny little thing like Baird couldn't get a girl if he tried. No way he had a kid."

Cole finished stretching and looked down at the field.

"Hmmmm... Speaking of Baird, I wonder how he's doin'. Prolly loosin' for sure."

Nicola glanced at the sky, then back at the field.

"Baird's awfully small compared to the other guys, isn't he?"

Cole laughed, a merry booming sound and slapped Nicola on the back.

"Hell Missy Tee, those guys make even you look tiny."

Nicola nodded, and bit her lip to hold back a laugh. Cole and her spent the next hour or so watching the game and talking. They talked about their past, hobbies, family, how they grew up. Around the time the sky started to get dark, Baird came jogging over to Nicola and Cole, a bright smile on his face.

"You guys! Did you see the vault Arley made? When e fell, I thought we were going to loose the play for sure but then he did that hand stand holding the ball! His face was priceless when he stuck the landing!"

Baird excitedly rambled on as he, Cole and Nicola walked back to Delta's apartment. After Baird had been talking for about fifteen minutes however Cole interrupted him.

"Man, shut up! I don't wanna hear you yammerin'!"

Baird gave cole a playful punch on the shoulder.

"What? Upset I could be a better Thrashball player than you?" He said teasingly.

Cole retaliated by elbowing Barid in the ribs.

"Boy, you're never gonna be half as good as the Cole Train! Don't you even bother!"

Baird fell back and allowed Cole to walk a few steps ahead before jumping on his back and giving him a noogie.

"Ay! Gerroff me!" Cole bellowed.

He tried to throw Baird off, but Baird had Cole in a death grip.

"Damon Baird, you let go of me now or this train's gonna run your track."

Nicola raised an eyebrow.

"Damn Baird, he's using your first name and threating you. Can you say 'Lovers Squabble'? Marcus is gonna be jealous."

Baird let go of Cole and ran behind Nicola.

"You can't get me Cole, I have a shield!" He shouted.

"Oh hell no, no midget uses me as a shield!" Nicola retorted with playful anger.

She picked up Baird and threw him over her shoulder. Baird yelped and started struggling.

"HELP! PUT DOWN ME! PUT ME DOWN!" He cried, tears mixing with laughter.

Cole was laughing as well.

"'Put down me'? Been speakign proper English long Baird?" He asked.

Nicola dropped Baird on his butt and walked ahead back to the apartment.

"Hurry you're butts up you guys, we gotta get back to the apartment."


	16. Chapter 15

**I have a lot of short chapters, sorry about that. Maybe I'll make a story that has slightly longer chapters. I hope you guys like what I've been doing.**

"Woo! Cole Train's in the house, baby!"

Cole, Baird, and Nicola were able to make it back to the apartment before the lights turned off, much to Nicola's relief. Inside the apartment, Marcus and Dome were sitting on a couch with Atari controlers in their hands.

"Hey guys." Dom said as he intently watched the T.V. screen.

A steady clicking could be heard along with what sounded like muted Lancer fire.

"You guys playing Cricus again?" Baird asked as he walked over to Dom and Marcus.

Nicola noticed the living room changed slightly since she left it earlier that morning. The couches were moved so they were more oriented to the T.V., and the chair was gone. A long table sat halfway between the couch and the T.V. with the Frankenstein's monster of game consoles sitting on top of it.

"Baird... Is that the Atari?" Nicola asked as cole walked over and sat on the second couch.

Barid smiled and plopped down next to Cole.

"Sure is. Plays DVD's too!" He said excitedly.

Nicola walked behind the couch Marcus and Dom were siting on and leaned against the wall, watching the game.

"How long have you guys been playing?" Baird asked.

Marcus shrugged.

"Dunno." He said. "Maybe half an hour.

Marcus didn't seem to be doing anything with his controler, while Dom on the other hand was pressing the left and right buttons on the D-pad. At the top of the screen, three coloured rows of squares moved past: red, blue and green. On the bottom half, a stick figure on a see saw was moving around trying to catch another falling stick figure.

"So... What's the point of the game exactly?" Nicola asked, tilting her head to the side.

Baird spoke up from the other couch.

"Well, while playing 'The Game' you cannot ever quit or drop out. There is no pausing 'The Game'. Whenever you think of 'The Game' you lose and you must admit this out loud. After declaring your loss, there is a thrity second period where you cannot lose again."

Baird looked at Nicola with a smug expression.

"Happy I explained?"

Nicola looked at Baird for a moment.

"So... You just lost 'The Game' then. Congradulations."

Baird opened his mouth, as if to say something then frowned.

"Crap... I just lost 'The Game'."

Cole laughed and patted Baird on the shoulder.

"You sure did Ba- wait... Dammit man, you made me lose too!"

Pretty soon, everyone in the room was laughing and complaining they lost 'The Game'. Even Marcus flashed a brief smile. A couple minutes after the laughter died down, Cole called over to Nicola.

"Missy Tee, watchoo doin' standing? Have yourself a seat."

Nicola shrugged her shoulders.

"There's nowhere really to sit except the floor, I'd rather stand."

Cole rolled his eyes and patted his lap.

"Come sit with the Cole Train then."

Nicola walked over to Cole, skeptical and nervous. She sat on his lap, but wasn't very comfortable.

"Don't be afraid to strecth out, use Baird as a fot rest if you have to."

Baird elbowed Cole's shoulder but said nothing. Nicola sat with Cole, her head on the arm rest of the couch and her knees dangling off the other end.

"Hey," Baird said indignantly. "I am nobodys pillow."

Nicola gave Baird a smile and patted his arm.

"Oh admit it, I just made your day."

Baird huffed and sat sulking. Dom meanwhile sighed and set his controler on the table. His person fell from the bottom of the screen and the words 'Game Over' flashed.

"What, quitting already?" Marcus asked. "You were only a thousand points away from my score."

Dom stood up and stretched.

"I just don't know what to do. Cole, don't you have to cook dinner?"

Cole placed a hand over his eyes..

"Yeah..." He said with a sigh. "Yeah... Crap, I'll get right on that."

Nicola moved so Cole could get up and walk to the kitchen.

"So Rook," Marcus began, adressing Nicola. "Why don't you take Dom's controler then?"

Nicola nodded and walked over to the couch. Dom gestured to his seat and Nicola ast down.

"You two have fun then. If I'm not out of the shower by the time dinners done save me a plate, alright?"

Nobody said anything, but then again Dom knew a plate would be saved for him and wasn't really looking for an answer.

"Who votes we steal Dom's dinner?" Baird asked from the couch.

Marcus opened his mouth to reply when the lights flickered and shut off.

"God dammit!" Dom yelled from upstairs.

Nicola heard Marcus sigh beside her.

"Calm down everyone." He said calmly. "Let's just grab some lanterns and flashlights. Cole, looks like you just got out of making dinner."


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 sorry if the past chapters have had spelling/grammar issues. I'll try to get better at catching them. I know a lot of times when I'm typing I'll mess up Baird's name and accidently type Braid or Biard instead. I usually catch it, but if I don't I'm sorry.**

"Marcus should've been back by now, what's taking him so long?"

"Dude, just shut up!"

"Yeah? OR what?"

Cole, Barid and Nicola were sitting in the kitchen with a lantern illuminating the room. When the power went out, Baird had went to the buildings circuit breaker and determined all the connections were fine. After hearing this, Marcus volunteered to walk to the Control center with a lantern and see why the power was out. About ten minutes passed before Cole and Baird began to argue about anything and everything.

"Or I'll kick your scrawny ass!"

"Come at me bro!"

Nicola had been sitting at the table with her ketch book, listening to Baird and Cole. She cosed the book and slammed it down on the table.

"Calm your boners! Will the two of you just act your age?" She said, glaring.

Baird and Cole quieted down and simply sat looking at each other. Nicola rubbed her temples and went back to her drawing. Dom could be heard coming down the stairs and a moment later he stood in the kitchen.

"Showers free, if anyone needs one."

Nicola left her seat and brought her stuff with her as she ascended the stairs. Dom then took her seat and looked at Baird and Cole with a smile.

"So, what do you guys think of Nicola so far?"

Baird took off his goggles and began to absent-mindedly clean the lenses.

"She's tall." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Dom responded.

Cole leaned back in his chair.

"Well Dom, you asked. I for one think she's got a nice figure."

Baird made a *tsk* noise but otherwise remained quiet. Cole ignored him and looked at Dom.

"And what about you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Dom looked away and shrugged.

"She's got... Nice eyes... Awfully much like stars, ya know?" He answered weakly.

Baird and Cole glanced at each other before breaking into a fit of laughter.

"What? What's so funny?" Dom asked indignantly.

Cole tried to stop laughing but couldn't. Baird was on the floor trying to pull himself up with the table.

"Real mature you two!" He snapped.

The front door opened and closed then, and a moment later Marcus was standing in the kitchen doorway.

"Hey Marcus." Dom greeted.

Marcus acknowledged him with a curt nod and pointed to Baird and Cole.

"What's with these two?"

Cole was able to stand up and regain control of his voice.

"Dom... Dom likes MIssy Tee!" He choked before laughing again.

Dom flicked Cole off and left the kitchen.

"Vas joder tu madre." He muttered as he left.

Cole followed Dom out of the kitchen, leaving Baird and Marcus alone.

"So... What?" Marcus asked, rubbing his temples.

Baird was finally able to regain himself and sat on a kitchen chair.

"We ah... Dom asked us what we thought of Amazon..." Baird placed a hand on the back of his neck and looked around the room.

"Aaaaand?" Marcus prompted.

Baird pulled at his shirt and sighed.

"All Dom could think about were her eyes. Who talks about a girls eyes unless they totally dig her?"

Marcus shook his head.

"That's not true." He replied.

Baird rolled his eyes.

"Dude, you wouldn't know. Me, I know these things."

Marcus smirked and shook his head.

"Speaking of the Rook, where is she?"

Baird pointed at the ceiling.

"She's getting a shower. Why you wanna know?" Baird smirked and looked at Marcus. "You're thinking something dirty, aren't you?"

Marcus frowned and took a set of CAG tags from his pants pocket.

"Her tags are in. I wanna give 'em to her as soon as I can."

Baird nodded and held out his hand.

"Let me see 'em."

Marcus tossed them to Baird without a word and watched as Baird carefully looked over the tags.

"Hmmm... Nicola M. Thompson. What's her middle name?"

Marcus shrugged his shoulders and held his hand out for the tags.

"Hey, anyone know when the lights will be back on?"

Marcus turned around to see Nicola walking into the kitchen. Her hair was damp and clung to her neck. The light from the lantern reflected in her eyes and seemed to swirl in an emerald whirlpool.

"Marcus might." Baird said, his eyes never leaving Nicola's as she sat at the table.

"Ah, do you?" She asked, turning to Marcus.

Marcus shook his head.

"Anya said the power should be on any minute, but no guarantee. How about you try commanding them to work?"

Marcus said the last bit jokingly and Baird smiled. Nicola rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers at the light. As soon as she did, the room was filled with light again. Baird stared dumbfoundedly at the light, but Marcus just raised an eyebrow. Nicola tried to hide the shock on her face with a grin.

"Any more miracles you need performed?"

Baird looked down at his hands and ran a finger around the edge of Nicola's COG tags.

"Yeah, catch this." He said quickly, and launched the tags at Nicola's head.

Nicola's hand jerked up and she caught the tags.

"Hey, nice ca-aaaach!"

As easily as Nicola caught the tags, she chucked them back to Baird. The tags hit him between the eyes and he put his head in his hands.

"What the hell did I throw?" Nicola asked as Marcus walked over to where the tags fell to the floor.

He picked them up and placed the tags in front of Nicola.

"These are your COG tags, keep 'em with you. That way when you die, if your body gets tore up we'll know who you are based on your tags."

Nicola picked up the tags and studied them. One tag read Nicola M. Thompson and the other read 34903110161995.

"Did you say... WHEN I die?"

Marcus realized his word fail and mentally facepalmed. Beofre he could correct himself though, Baird spoke.

"Hey, relax. Remember that Reaver you hi-jacked? If you can do stuff like that, you don't have to worry about... Dying too soon."

Nicola didn't say anything and fiddled with her COG tags. After a minute she stood up.

"Well... G'night you guys."

Baird gave her a thumbs up as she walked past, Marcus nodded. The sound of Nicola walking up the stairs could be heard, followed by the muffled opening and closing of a door.

**That stuff that was underlined earlier was Dom speaking spanish. Now, Spanish isn't my primary language, and I have too much pride to google translate it, so let me elaborate what I'm trying to have Dom say.**

**Vas- Conjugation of the verb Ir meaning to go.**

**Joder- Verb that according to google translate (googled way before this out of sheer boredom) means to fuck**

**Tu- Spanish equivalent of you or your**

**Madre- Mother**

**So basically, I tried to have Dom say, "Go fuck your mother." Lovely, right?**


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 has arrived! As I'm typing this right now, ive done like 5 chapters in less than 24 hours. I'm going to try to bust my proverbial (or maybe literal?) balls to get this done. Te amo mis espectadores! (I love my spectators because I don't know the word for fans...)**

"Hey, Dom! Some hot chick's looking for ya!"

Dom had been helping Anya review data when he heard someone call out his name. He turned around in his chair and saw one of the Comms officers by the door, Nicola standing next to him. Dom bit his lip to stifle a laugh. Nicola was a tall girl, no doubt about it. However she dwarfed the Comms officer she stood by. The poor guy didn't even come up to Nicola's shoulders.

"Send her on over then!" Dom shouted.

The officer tipped his hat to Nicola who smiled and gave him a playful wink. The officer returned the smile and walked back to his post.

"Come on over, don't be a stranger." Dom called.

"NIcola walked over to where Dom and Anya were sitting an sat in an empty chair.

"You happy people really need to label the Comms building, I passed this place three times before I realized what it was."

Anya giggled and held a hand out to Nicola.

"I'm Anya. I guess it's safe to assume you're Nicola."

Nicola shook Anya's hand and smiled.

"Yep. I guess you've heard of me?"

Anya let go of NIcola's hand and shrugged.

"Just what I've heard from Dom."

Nicola was about to say something when the computer everyone was sitting around began to beep.

"Algorithm must be done computing..." Dom murmured off-handedly as he clicked a few keys.

The screen was filled with numbers, letters and complex data codes. Nicola watched as Dom seemed to manipulate the computer like magic. He pulled up several tables and began to point them out to Anya.

"Here we have the production/consumption estimates along with the population projection. Along the side we have the Gear/Civ ratios and a detailed graph of individual profession stats: Farming, monitoring, maintenance and so forth."

Nicola listened intently to Dom explaining the tables and charts. She couldn't help but be impressed with Dom's intelligence and soon her, Dom, and Anya were cross examining the various charts with past data values.

"This is the most fun I've had in a long time." Anya said after two hours of friendly conversation.

Dom cracked his knuckles and closed his eyes lazily.

"Yeah..." He said with a content sigh. "We should do this more often."

Nicola leaned back lazily in her chair.

"I know right? Hell Dom, is this what you do everyday?"

Dom shook his head.

"Naw, sometimes I play Thrashball with Cole."

Nicola nodded and looked at Dom.

"Speaking of Cole, Baird told me you guys had a fight last night."

Dom facepalmed and groaned.

"Oh God... What did he tell you?"

Nicola thought about dropping the subject but continued talking.

"Nothing, he just said Cole said something to piss you off and you ended up storming off quote, 'Like a PMSing pansy' unquote."

Dom rolled his eyes.

"It was nothing." He said wearily.

Nicola didn't believe Dom for one minute, but didn't want to piss him off for prying either.

"Wait, Dom... Is it about the eye comment?" Nicola asked.

"You know what? I really don't want to talk about it." Dom said in a huff.

Nicola made a mental note to never get on Dom's bad side and the group sat in silence until Anya was ordered to report to an active station for Com support.

"Crap... Anya's gone. Hmm..."

Dom sat and twiddled his thumbs before snapping his fingers and smiling.

"Care to join me for a drink?"

He held his arm out in a gentlemanly gesture and Nicola gave him a small smile.

Taking his arm Nicola said with a jokingly regal accent, "Why I would be delighted to join you Mr. Santiago."

"Well shall we walk then?" Dom asked, his accent just as joking and regal.


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter eighteen! Hopefully you guys are enjoying yourselves.**

"I don't believe it, Dominic Santiago, here in my bar. Finally here to declare your endless love for me?"

Dom and Nicola had been sitting at the bar counter for about five seconds before one of the most wild looking women Nicola had ever seen loomed above them. For a fleeting instant, Nicola thought it could've been Bernie Mataki. Then Nicola saw that although this woman did have the long greyish hair, she was too young and had eyes that were a bright, almost blood red. Her eyes were rimmed with dark circles and the woman bore tribal tattoos on her arms and part of her neck.

"No..." Dom said sadly, shaking his head. "Damn Sabre, I forgot you were the barkeep tonight."

Sabre, if this was her real name, smiled. Her smile reviled shockingly straight, white teeth.

"Admit it, you love me. Who's your lady friend?"

Sabre leaned toward Nicola and spent what seemed like an eternity scrutinizing her.

"Hmmm... Scrawny little thing for a Gear that's for sure. I'm loving those eyes though, they're a much nicer shade of green than Baird's that's for sure. So, what's your squad?"

Sabre polished a glass as she spoke and placed it with a soft _*chink*_ in front of Dom.

"Delta. Been alive for three whole days." Nicola responded, leery of Sabre.

Sabre smiled and set a shot glass in front of Nicola.

"Well here then, first drink on me."

Sabre poured a clear liquid into the glass and gave Nicola a wicked smile.

"Drink up."

Nicola reached for the glass, only to have Dom gently take her hand.

"Don't drink that Nicola. It's pure moonshine, compliments of Dizzy."

Sabre frowned at Dom.

"Don't ruin the surprise. Go on, drink it."

Dom shook his head and looked at Nicola. Nicola however, rolled her eyes and picked up the glass. Sabre stared at Nicola, a smirk on her face. Nicola smirked back.

"Mozelle Tov." She said, and downed the shot.

Seeing how Nicola handled the shot almost reminded Dom of Marcus. Marcus had an extremely high tolerance to alcohol. Hell, one night he polished off a bottle of Gentleman Jack's by himself without gagging, and was still quite sober. Then one fateful night around the campfire, Dizzy passed around a bottle of home made moonshine. Everyone was pretty skeptical and waited for Marcus to take the first swig. Marcus took a glass and downed half of it in one gulp. However, he quickly regretted the decision. The alcohol seemed to close his throat and Marcus gagged to clear it. Dizzy stood by and laughed as Marcus clutched his throat, still desperately trying to breathe.

"Ha ha! That there's the good stuff ain't it?"

So when Dom saw Nicola down the shot, he expected her to at least gag. However Nicola downed the shot with a straight face... Until she gave Sabre a huge grin.

"Pass my regards to Dizzy."

Dom's jaw dropped and he looked at Sabre.

"So Dom, want me to hook you up with a drink?"

Sabre had a grin on her face that confused Dom until a thought crossed his mind.

"You gave Nicola water," He said. "Didn't you?"

Sabre's grin grew and she held the bottle in front of Dom.

"Maybe. You wanna swig?"

She poured a shot for Dom and set the bottle on the top rack of the alcohols.

"Here, take a bucket before you drink."

Dom rolled his eyes and downed the shot.. He then dropped his glass and clutched his throat as a sudden, violent fire erupted. Dom tried to yell but found the words stuck in his throat. Gagging and coughing he fell from his bar stool and landed hard on the floor. Several of the patrons laughed at him as he continued to suffer.

"Oh my God, is he going to be alright?" Nicola asked worriedly.

Sabre simply shrugged and walked over to a group further down the bar. Nicola helped dom back to his seat and patted him between his shoulder blades. Dom was slowly able to breathe again and lay his head on the counter.

"How the hell did you drink that?" He croaked.

Nicola was still patting Dom on the back when she answered.

"I used to brew my own moonshine with my friend, Rivka. That stuff was brutal but we learned to drink it."

Dom gave a weak laugh and sat up.

"Ugh... Hey, Sabre..."

Sabre waved off the people she was talking to and walked over to Dom.

"Wanna nother shot?"

Dom shook his head.

"Coffee would be wonderful."

Sabre smiled and turned to get Dom his coffee.

"Sure thing hon. Sorry about the shot, that was low even for me."

Sabre turned and poured Dom a fresh cup of coffee.

"Don't urn yourself, alright? You've embarrassed yourself enough for one day."

Nicola heard Dom muttered a curse under his breath before Sabre leaned over the counter and poked her.

"So Shortie, what's your name?"

Nicola poked Sabre back before responding.

"Shortie? I think I'll let that one slide. Names Nicola."

Sabre nodded.

"Pleased to meet you."

Two men chose then to walk over to the counter. One sat in the seat next to Dom, and the other sat next to Nicola.

"So Santiago," The man next to Dom began, "Drink a little too much for ya? Maybe you should ask Marcus to buy you some baby beer?"

Both men laughed at this making Nicola frown.

"Lay off 'em man." She said, rolling her eyes.

The man next to Nicola laughed and picked a loose thread from his leather jacket.

"Oh looky here, Beaner needs a girl to stick up for him."

Dom clenched his fist but said nothing.

"Oh careful Harve," The man next to Dom said. "Don't want Beaner's girlfriend to kick your ass."

Nicola's face flushed but she remained silent.

"Oh can it Steve. Besides, this lady couldn't kick my ass if I painted a target on it."

Nicola glared at the man but didn't say anything. Instead, she called over to Sabre.

"Oi, Sabre! MInd pouring me another shot?"

Sabre poured Nicola a shot and looked at Steve and Harve.

"Drinks for the ignorami?" She asked curtly.

Harve frowned.

"What's an ignorami?" He asked.

Nicola drank her shot and chose to answer Harve's question.

"It's the plural of ignoramus, Ignoramus."

Steve frowned.

"How the fuck are we supposed to know what THAT means?"

Sabre pointed to the bathrooms.

"There's a dictionary in the shitter, pretty sure it still has all the 'I's'."

Steve huffed in annoyance.

"Fat lot that'll do to look up a word that starts with 'E'."

Nicola looked from Dom, to Sabre, to Steve before pointing to her glass.

"More booze. I still hear the idiots calling."

Sabre went to pour Nicola her drink, when Harve snatched the bottle of moonshine.

"Bitch. Learn. Your. Place." He said, before dumping the contents of the bottle over Nicola's head.


	20. Chapter 19

**Kinda pointless towards the end, sorry about that. Some of this was half assed when I wrote it, and its getting worse as I type it.**

For a moment, Nicola didn't realize why the bar seemed to be laughing at her. Then she remembered Harve just dumped a bottle of... What... Moonshine, right? On her. He dumped a bottle of moonshine on her! Why?

"Ass hat..." She mumbled.

Dom looked pissed. More pissed than he had gotten earlier when Nicola was inquiring about his fight with Cole that's for sure.

"Breeding stock bitch." Harve stated in response.

Nicola's first instinct was to pick up a bar stool and use it to clean out Harve's colon, but Nicola had much more self control than that. So she simply grabbed his head and slammed his face into her knee. Harve dropped to the ground immediately and began to snore. Steve was not pleased with this and shoved past Dom to try to hit her.

"Fuckin' cunt!"

Steve didn't make it more than a step or two when Dom grabbed him by the neck and slammed him cheek first into the bar counter.

"You worthless shit! You want to know what pisses me off more than Locusts?"

The whole bar was watching with rapt attention. One patron even pulled out an outdated Kyocera cellphone and began to record the events that were unfolding.

"It pisses me off when I see some shit faced waste of space like you treating a woman like this. Now I think you owe my friend one hell of an apology."

Steve spat in Nicola's direction.

"Bitch is a Gear, ain't she? Then she better fuckin' learn to deal with what I have to say."

Dom ground Steve's face even harder into the counter.

"Apologize, then crawl home with your tail between your legs or I'll use your face to scrub this bar table to toilet. Got it?"

To accentuate his point, Dom slowly dragged Steve's face across the counter, causing the rough wood to tear into his skin and splinter. Steve cried out in pain.

"No please stop! I'll apologize! I swear I'll apologize!"

Dom stopped dragging him, but Steve's face still remained pressed against the counter.

"I'm sorry! Harve's sorry! We're both sorry! We'll never treat anyone like this again, I swear!"

Dom released the pressure on Steve's face and roughly shoved him away.

"Get out of my face."

Steve grabbed a hold of Harve's sleeping form and carried him out of the bar. From inside his wallet Dom took out a twenty dollar bill and tossed it on the counter.

"Hope you don't mind Nicola, I'm buying your drinks."

Nicola nodded and followed Dom out of the bar. The two of them didn't speak again until they were back at Delta apartment, at which point Dom prompted her.

"Hey... Feel alright?"

Despite how uncomfortable Nicola felt, she nodded.

"Dom... Why did you do that? So some ass hats tried to start something. I'm a soldier, I can handle worse."

Dom seemed embarrassed for being called out. He looked at his hands, then the floor, before looking up to focus his eyes on Nicola's left shoulder.

"You kinda... Remind me of someone I knew... Hair style... Attitude... Eyes..."

Nicola's unease worsened. She wasn't really used to people being so open with her.

"Who do I remind you of?" She asked quietly.

Dom was quiet for a long time before he finally responded.

"Maria." He said, but his words were a whisper so quiet Nicola could barely hear him.


	21. Chapter 20

After a long conversation with Dom, Nicola spent about an hour trying to scrub out the alcohol smell. She succeeded, thankfully, and was drawing in her room when Cole called her.

"Missy Tee! Time for you to join us for dinner. Hurry up too, your visitor is pissing us off."

Nicola hurriedly put her things away and rushed over to her door.

"Visitor?" She called, opening the door.

She peered into the dark hallway.

"Who are you talking about?"

She heard muffled laughter coming from downstairs and with a sigh decided to see who was there. While she was walking downstairs, Nicola caught the scent of exotic spices coming from the kitchen.

"Hey Cole, what are you cooking tonight?

Nicola walked into the kitchen and saw Sabre sitting at the table, a grin on her face.

"'Sup Shortie, hope you don't mind me dropping by."

Everyone else in the room was visibly upset by Sabre's presence and no one sat with her at the table.

"Geez Sabre, how did you manage to piss off everyone so quickly?" Nicola asked as she sat across from Sabre.

"She's had practice." Came Marcus's gruffer than usual reply.

Marcus was leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. Although it was a casual stance, Nicola could tell he was particularly agitated with Sabre being in the apartment. Baird looked like he was about to make a witty remark when the oven beeped.

"I'll get it!" Cole chirped.

He then opened the door and with a pair of fuzzy oven mits pulled out a covered dish.

"Hope y'alls like raccoon." He said as he placed the dish on the counter.

"Oh, Sabre's favourite!" Baird quipped. He then began to serve dinner. First a plate for himself, then one for Nicola.

"Fear not Missy Tee," Cole said kindly. "This dish isn't as spicy as last times."

Nicola smiled and took her seat across from Sabre.

"You gonna get dinner?"

Sabre shrugged.

"Eh, once everyone else gets it maybe."

There was a scramble for seats not next to Sabre and Cole went so far as to sit in the living room.

"Hey Cole, save me a seat!" Dom called after him.

"What, no one wants to sit with me? I feel lonely now!" Sabre said mockingly.

Baird and Marcus sat on either side of Nicola, glaring at Sabre as they did. Nicola sighed and tried to focus on eating her dinner but found she just couldn't. She was hyper-aware of her surroundings. Sabre was trying not to smile, Baird kept glancing at Nicola from the corner of his eye and Marcus calmly ate his dinner while glaring at Sabre. Nicola gradually began to realize her face was flushed and glanced at Baird and Marcus to see if they noticed. The good news was if they did, they were merciful and didn't say anything. Nicola pushed her half-full dinner plate to Sabre.

"Here." She said quietly.

Sabre looked at Baird then the plate.

"So, raccoon huh?" She asked and took a bite.

Nicola shook her head.

"Don't be fooled, it's possum."

Sare chewed and nodded.

"Mama-san too, judging by the tenderness."

"Leave it to Sabre to know what rodents taste like." Baird said coldly.

"Sweeter than you!" Sabre retorted.

Baird flushed.

"Yeah? You wish you could have a taste of me." He snapped.

Sabre narrowed her eyes.

"You don't even have enough to taste."

Baird tried to make a witty come back but his words failed him and he made a pitiful gurgle.

"Oh, what was that Baird? Didn't quite catch that."

Marcus cleared his throat and spoke.

"You should spend less time ragging on Baird and more time in your bitch reduction classes."

Nicola stood up and walked over to the fridge. She hated the way everyone the room was making her feel and *really* needed a drink. She opened the fridge and looked at its contents, frowning when the strongest thing she found was beer.

"Hey, we got anything stronger than beer to drink?"

Sabre made some snide comment and what her exact words were Nicola will never know, but they sure pissed off Marcus.

"God dammit Sabre, I've had enough of your bullshit tonight! Get the fuck out of my house!"

Nicola spun around and saw Marcus glaring at Sabre, his hands shaking. Baird walked over to Nicola and nudged her out of the kitchen.

"Leave... This is gonna get ugly."

Nicola decided it wasn't the best time to argue and followed Baird out of the kitchen.

"Barid, what the hell's going on?"

Baird shook his head and ushered Nicola into the living room and up the stairs. Cole and dom were nowhere in sight.

"We'll talk about it upstairs... Since you're a member of Delta I guess you should know about Marcus's and Sabre's past."

**Ooooh! Suspense! Who is the mysterious Sabre, and how does she know Marcus? Find out in our next exciting chapter of "Beginnings!"**


	22. Chapter 21

"What we are about to discuss can never leave this room, alright? If Marcus knew what we were talking about he would murder us all in our sleep and leave our corpses for the Locusts. Understood?"

Nicola was standing in Baird's room, or what she assumed was Baird's room. Various bits of machine and wires were scattered about, as well as some old paperback books with well worn spines.

"A couple years ago, some chick showed up at our apartment covered in blood and scratches. Marcus and I were the only ones here so I was helping Marcus take care of her. The scratches were pretty serious, that and it seemed like she had gone through surgery recently."

Baird paused to take a deep breath.

"She told us after some food and bandages that she had run away from a breeding farm."

Nicola raised an eyebrow and frowned.

"You have stuff like that in Jacinto?"

Baird let his head droop.

"Yeah... Apparently humanity has two goals in this world: Kill the Locust and repopulate."

Nicola shuddered and Baird continued his story.

"This happened before the majority of the people knew the horrors of the breeding farms though. They snatch up little girls who have barely struck puberty and make 'em have kids... We were never told that. Most of us thought that it was just whores and mental cases. We never knew what was going on... Until Sabre showed up that is."

He paused a moment, allowing Nicola to absorb what he said.

"Sabre was thirteen when the farms picked her up. She didn't have parents, or any other family for that matter. No friends... No one to ask questions when she went missing. According to Sabre, she was there for about four years before she was able to run away. And if some of the stories she told us are true..."

Baird shuddered.

"Life was hell." Nicola finished.

Baird nodded.

"Marcus went to Chairman Prescott as soon as Sabre fell asleep. Of course Prescott tried to bull shit his way out of things, but not even his lackeys knew he had been having kids hauled off to the farms. Of course, they didn't really care. Supported the bastard in fact! They said, 'This way ALL of our citizens can help us win our fight for life. One life at a time.' Disgusting..."

Nicola didn't say anything. She knew the horror's of a breeding farm first hand. Where she was from, almost all the girls went to a farm until they fulfilled a quota. The only way you got out of it was if you were barren, or someone pulled some major strings to get you out. Nicola had no such luck. Her brothers kept her out while they were alive, but once Daniel and Isaac passed, Nicola was on her own. She was there for about a year before she broke out by snapping the neck of the person guarding her. Instead of killing her however, they gave her a gun.

It was a good trade in Nicola's opinion.

"Anyway, once Marcus has his mind made up about something, not even hell itself can stop him. Marcus had the farms stop taking in kids, yada, yada... And then Sabre was a member of Delta Squad. Anyway, buy this time Marcus was about twenty or twenty-one and Sabre was... seventeen I think. And... Their relationship was complicated."

Nicola frowned.

"So are you saying Marcus was a pedophile?"

Baird shook his head.

"On the contrary, he practically had to invest in an ass guard so Sabre didn't molest him. Girl was fucked in the head, trust me I know, and she had it set in her mind that Marcus loved her or something."

"Well did he?" Nicola asked.

"I think he had a lot of respect for her, and admired her, but loved? No, that's the last word I would've used to describe how he felt about Sabre."

Baird scanned Nicola's face, trying to gauge her reaction.

"What? Am I supposed to respond or something?" She asked snidely.

Baird shook his head.

"Not until I get to the good part I guess. Sabre was made an honorary member of Delta, and went on missions with us. Turns out her crazy was good in a scrape. Anyway, she was with us for about a year before... A certain incident occurred. See, like I said, Sabre loved Marcus. Real legit love too, after all he did save her life. And, no homo or anything, Marcus is pretty awesome."

Nicola clicked her tongue and shook her head, but still listened as Baird continued his story.

"Anyway, she started making some inappropriate advances on Marcus, which he denied of course, and Sabre didn't like it all that much. So she started spending her time trying to make Marcus love her basically."

Nicola cocked her head to the side.

"Sounds like a lot of girls I know. Lot of guys too. But I have a feeling Sabre went too far."

Baird nodded.

"Oh big time. When she couldn't get Marcus, she targeted dear old Dom. Now, I myself am fuzzy on the details on how she did it, but she got Dom drunk beyond all reasonable drunkness and... Well... They had sex. In Marcus's bed."

Nicola's jaw dropped.

"In Marcus's bed? Holy shit, what did he do?"

Baird chuckled.

"Well, he came home and instead of sleeping on his couch, decided to sleep in his bed. So he went up, and I can only imagine his face when he saw his proverbial brother, butt ass naked with his stalker, in his bed. Well, there was a lot of screaming, sounds like some stuff was broken and Sabre was kicked out of the apartment. Dom couldn't remember why he was in bed with Sabre, and Marcus broke the news to poor Dom that he had been un-faithful to Maria."

Nicola knew what it was like to wake up in bed with a stranger, of course she also knew what it was like to wake up to said stranger already started as well, but she remained silent.

"Of course, at this point in time we didn't know if Maria was still alive or not, but Dom still pledged to remain faithful to her anyway. Guy was planning on going the rest of his life basically without sex. Me, I can't imagine a life like that. A man has needs after all."

Nicola punched Baird on the shoulder, too hard for it to be playful.

"You twisted little ass! Is that what women are to you? Pig!"

She stormed out of his room, ignoring him trying to apologize. She wasn't paying attention however, and crashed headlong into Marcus on the way to his room, a very annoyed expression on his face.

"Dammit Rook!" He shouted. "Watch where you're going!"

Nicola, too pissed off to watch what she was saying snapped at Marcus.

"Oh what, pissed your personal fangirl is here?"

Marcus shoved Nicola roughly against the wall.

"That's none of your damn business!"

Nicola flipped him off before going into her room and slamming the door behind her. She crawled into bed and lay there, fuming until she was finally able to drift off into a light, restless sleep.


	23. Chapter 22

**Kay, I was going through my stories on my phone (cause I got bored and wanted to look at them from the perspective of the reader) and I noticed I had spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. I wan't to apologize for that, I thought I edited all that out. So, if it's a deal breaker for any of you guys, let me know and I'll spend more time proofreading my stuff. (Although considering I have more learning disabilities than a 'special' academy...) And I realize some of my chapters are long, and some are short... It all looks longer when it's written out in a notebook.**

In the days that followed the Marcus/Sabre fight, Nicola noticed things were different. Baird was quieter, around Marcus at least. Dom seemed to have a guilty look about him and Cole didn't act like his usual, chipper self. Marcus didn't seem to act different, but Nicola assumed that he was just using his amazing willpower to keep acting the same. Nicola visited Sabre on several occasions, trying to get to know both her and her side of the story, but Sabre was stubborn and didn't want to talk.

So that was how, nearly a week after the incident, Nicola found herself asking Baird for more details about Marcus' and Sabre's past.

"I suppose I could tell you some more..."

Baird was stretched lazily across a couch, an arm dangling off the edge.

"But it'll cost you."

Nicola sighed.

"Can't you just tell me from the goodness of your heart?"

"What heart?" Baird chuckled.

"You know what? I'll just go bug Marcus about it. Where is he?"

Baird sat up and shook his head.

"Ohhhhh no. Bad idea. Marcus hates it when people are in his business, especially when Sabre is involved. All you're gonna do is piss him off."

Nicola put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes.

"Where is he?"

Baird shook his head.

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

Nicola narrowed her eyes at Baird.

"Oh damn..." He muttered. "You're serious... Fine, he's more than likely at the bar."

Nicola nodded and began to walk to the door.

"Hey, wait up, let me go with you." Baird sat up and joined Nicola at the door.

"I don't need an escort." She said flatly.

"Don't be stupid. A girl like you at The Rusty Nail by herself?"

Nicola rolled her eyes and flexed her muscles.

"I may be a girl, but I've still got some decent bicep."

Baird frowned. "You think you're so great don't you? That no one will mess with you?"

Nicola opened the door, only to have Baird close it.

"I'm going with you, like it or not."

Nicola glared at Baird.

"Alright... Fine."

Nicola opened the door again and left the apartment, Baird following to her right.

"So Amazon, what's the plan?"

Nicola smiled in spite of her self.

"What, besides crazy?" She said jokingly.

Baird chuckled. "Hell, if this plan wasn't crazy I don't think I'd be willing to help."

There were nearly at the bar when Nicola stopped.

"Okay, I'll go in, have a few drinks and see If I can spot Marcus. About ten minutes after I go in, you follow but don't sit next to me or anything, and don't come over unless I need help."

Baird nodded. "I hope you know what you're doing..."

Nicola shrugged her shoulders. "What's the worst thing that can happen?"

**'What's the worst thing that can happen'... Famous last words right? Read on to find out!**


	24. Chapter 23

**Mkay, while since I've updated I know. I would like to dedicate this chapter to one of the reviewers (who for the life of me I can't remember their username or their DA name) who found some art I did on deviantart lately regarding this story and liked it and has been reading the story as well :) So, here's to you person!**

When the door to the bar opened, Marcus noticed an almost instant shift in the atmosphere. Sabre wasn't the bartender that day, but Marcus had a sinking feeling she had just walked in. Marcus was sitting alone at the counter, a glass of scotch in his hands. Whoever it was who walked into the bar took a seat next to Marcus.

"Hey, Barkeep, give me a Bourbon chaser with a shot of whiskey."

The bartender raised an eye but brought the person their drink. Marcus glanced at the person next to him.

"This ain't a woman's bar, Rook."

The bartender left to go clean a messy table.

"God, every ones on my case about being a woman today..."

Marcus took a drink from his glass.

"Speaking of women, Anya's looking for ya."

This took Nicola by surprise.

"Really? She say why?"

Marcus shook his head.

"Oh... Anyway, there's a reason I'm here."

Nicola sipped her drink, wincing slightly at the bitterness.

"Figured as much." Marcus replied.

"What's you're side of the 'Sabre' story?"

Marcus set his drink on the counter with a little more force than strictly necessary

"And that's your business how?" He asked in a low voice.

"Dunno." Nicola said casually. "Just morbidly curious."

Marcus drummed his fingers on the bar counter but didn't say anything.

"So... You gonna talk?"

Nicola glanced at a clock in the bar. She had only five minutes at most before Baird showed up, and Marcus would know something was up.

"Are you and Sabre friends?" Marcus asked.

The question caught Nicola off guard but she didn't let her face show it.

"I guess you could say that. We have a bit in common."

Nicola saw Marcus' jaw twitch.

"Yeah... Actually you do." He said stiffly.

Nicola sipped her drink. "Hey, Mar-"

Nicola started to talk when two hands clamped firmly on her shoulders.

"Hello dear, and what's a beauty like you doing in a place like this?"

From the corner of her eye Nicola saw Baird slip into the bar and sit nonchalantly at a table.

"I'm trying to enjoy my Bourbon in peace."

Whoever it was grabbing Nicola's shoulders laughed and tightened his grip.

"Sounds peaceful. So, names Tosh. And you would be..?"

Nicola tried to shrug off his grip.

"I'm the girl who's gonna kick your ass if you don't let go of my shoulders."

Tosh laughed.

"Oh really? If I recall right it was Dom who had to help you out with Steve and Harvey... I don't see Dom anywhere, do you?"

Marcus turned to Tosh with a bored expression.

"I'm pretty sure you need to take your hands off her now." He said with a slight growl.

"Yeah, Fenix?" Tosh responded agitatedly. "And what are you going to do if I don't?"

Marcus stood up like he was going to force Tosh's hands off of Nicola, but he didn't get the opportunity. Nicola jerked her elbow back, catching Tosh in the ribs. He let go of Nicola's shoulders and clutched his ribs.

"Ugck! Bitch...!"

Nicola stood up and glared at Tosh. "It's ass hats like you who need to learn your place, and keep you hands to yourself!"

Tosh grabbed Nicola's arm and twisted it.

"Bitch, learn YOUR place!"

Nicola hissed and began to wildly claw at Tosh's face. She sliced into his cheek and Tosh let go of her arm with an audible yelp. He grabbed his bleeding face, but Nicola wasn't done yet. She delivered tow quick punches, one to his face and the other to his stomach. The bar patrons were cheering and crowded around Nicola and Tosh. Marcus was knocked out of the way by sheer number of people and tried to reach Nicola, but couldn't. From the other side of the bar, Baird was also struggling against the crowd.

"Fight... Fight... Fight..." Cheered the patrons.

Tosh regained his breath quickly and knocked Nicola down. He aimed a kick where she fell that Nicola was barely able to dodge in time. She struggled to her feet, and used her forearm to block another kick. The impact left her staggered and Tosh was able to grab her. She broke his grip easily and tried to claw his face again. Tosh anticipated this however and ducked. He tackled Nicola into the bar counter and her head hit the side violently and with force. Her vision blurred, and Tosh began to crush her windpipe. In a display of sheer strength, not only did Nicola break Tosh's grip on her, she lept to her feet and threw him onto the counter. She brought her elbow don't on the back of his neck, a move that could've easily broken it had Nicola not controlled herself. Tosh groaned, and tried to drag himself away. Marcus broke through the crowd and began to force Nicola out of the bar. People began throwing drinks, some aimed for Nicola, others for Marcus, some drinks were even poured on the prone form of Tosh. Marcus actually tried to shield Nicola from some of the drinks, not seeming to care if he was hit.

Baird joined the procession too, and also shielded Nicola from drinks. They walked to the apartment in relative silence, but Nicola was painfully aware Marcus hadn't stopped glaring at her with malice since they left the bar. A wave of nausea and embarrassment came over Nicola and she slumped to the ground.

"Oh no Rook, don't crap out on us now." Marcus said cruelly.

"Hey man, give her a break." Baird responded weakly.

"No!" Marcus said hotly. "Why the fuck is it that WE get the retards? Every time we have to train a rookie, they're useless and end up dying within a month. This one's gonna be just like the others!"

Nicola stood up and got in Marcus' face.

"You know what? Fuck you. It's not my fault you COG pigs are such asses. I don't see why the fuck I'm getting talked to like this! I would've been fan-fucking-tastic handling the situation on my own, thank you very much."

Marcus shoved Nicola back a few feet.

"Yeah, says the idiot who had Tosh's hands around her throat."

Nicola barred her teeth at Marcus.

"I broke that mothers grip like it was a toothpick."

Baird jumped in between Nicola and Marcus.

"Okay kids, lets get back to the apartment? Hmmm?"

Nicola and Marcus were busy shooting each other looks of sheer venom and didn't seem to hear Baird.

"Guys?"

Marcus stalked off to the apartment, leaving Baird and Nicola behind.

"What an ass..."

Baird heard Nicola mutter. Now it was Baird's turn to respond, and his response was similar to Marcus'.

"You were an idiot in the first place going to the bar! I don't know if you realize this, but guys tend to think with the wrong head. You could've gotten killed, raped, stabbed or worse... And here you are, getting mad at Marcus for pointing this out?"

Nicola glared at Baird.

"You know what, fuck you. And Marcus. And your whole damn way of life. I was better off at the Stranded Camp."

With that, she stormed away towards the apartment, leaving Baird stewing in her wake.


	25. Chapter 24

**Mkay, I know it's been for freaking ever since I've updated, so I don't really have much to say right now except sorry for the wait, and enjoy.**

Nicola was sleeping semi-peacefully when a blaring siren rang through the city. She sat up in bed, hoping the siren wasn't what she thought it was. He fears were confirmed however when her door was suddenly flung open.

"Rook! Haul ass, Locust attack!"

Nicola got out of bed and began to hastily pull her armour over her clothes. Her hands were clumsy in sleep, something she hoped would pass soon. Nicola was the first person who had her armour on, and stood by the front door of the apartment checking her guns. Marcus came down the stairs, followed closely by Dom. Cole and Baird followed a second later and proceeded to leave through the back door.

"Rook, go to the communications building to provide support. Stay there until ordered else wise."

Nicola nodded.

"Yes Sir!"

She left the apartment, quickly making her way the the communications building. The sounds of screams and gunfire filled the air, along with the heavy scent of smoke. Nicola pressed up a building and cautiously peeked over the side. A group of five Locusts had their back to her and were engaged in a fire fight with another group of Gears. Nicola clicked the safety off her Lancer and opened fire on the backs of the Locust. Two of them fell, and the other three turned to face her. Before they had the chance to fire however, the Gears dropped them.

"Thanks for the assist!" One called out.

Nicola nodded to them and worked her way to the communications building. It was slow going, the Locusts had managed to dig deep into the city and were walking about everywhere. Ammo was hard to find, and Nicola found herself relying on her chainsaw bayonet more than she wanted to. Eventually she was able to arrive at the communications building, and not a moment too soon either. Boomers and Reavers were attacking along with a group of about fifteen Drones.

"Hey, over here!" Someone shouted out to Nicola.

Three gears were huddled behind cover not far off. One of them had short hair styled into corn rows, the other covered in tribal tattoos, and the third wore a bandana about his head much like Marcus. Crouching as not to get shot, Nicola joined the three men in cover.

"What's the situation?" She asked.

"The Locust seem to be too focused on attacking the building to take much notice of us, and we could probably surprise them. However, three Boomers and two Reavers is a bit much for us, and we're running out of ammo."

Nicola hissed.

"Damn... I'm low on ammo too..."

The man with the tattoos spoke.

"Perhaps we could lure them away. Throw a grenade off to the side in hopes they would follow it to find the thrower."

The man with the bandana shook his head.

"Wouldn't work. Too much noise."

Nicola thought for a moment, gazing at the Reaver.

"How about I snag control of one of the Reavers, and turn it against the rest of the Locusts here?"

All three men turned to look at Nicola.

"Are you crazy?"

"You'd just get killed."

"There are more noble ways to throw away one's life."

Nicola frowned.

"I've done it before. All you have to do is just... Hold on, and pray you don't piss your pants."

The man with the tattoos spoke.

"If we can distract the Reaver and kill it's rider, are you sure you could control it?"

Nicola nodded.

"Like I said, I've done it before... Once."

The man with the corn rows opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water.

"Once? We're gonna risk our asses so you can do something you've done once before?"

The man with the bandana shrugged.

"Shit Jace, it's not like we've got a snowball's chance in hell no matter what we do."

"Glad to see you're on her side." Jace replied sarcastically. "What about you, Tai?"

The man with the tattoos took a deep breath before speaking.

"This one seems to have the energy of many spirits about her. I believe there is more to her than meets the eye."

Bandana Man chuckled dryly.

"If only Baird were here... Then he could make a Transformers reference."

Nicola rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a robot though."

The Gears' cover was suddenly rushed by a troop of eight Drones. Nicola wasted no time and revved her chainsaw bayonet to life. She swung it for the neck of the closest Drone and found her face breaking out into a sick smile. Despite how scary it can be to get into such close quarters, the sound of steel cutting flesh and blood flying has an almost soothing effect on the soul. The other Drones stood back, away from Nicola and her chainsaw. They drew their shotguns and other weapons fit for close quarters. Tai pulled a Boomshield, seemingly out of his ass, and charged the Drones. Several of them were knocked down, one was decapitated.

"We must move, quickly!" Tai shouted.

Bandana Man opened fire on the Drones who were staggering to their feet.

"Green eyes!" He shouted.

"Go on with your crazy ass plan, we need the help!"

The rest of the Locust who were attacking the communications building stopped their assault to attack the Gears who were battling the Drones.

"Shit! We are fucked in the ass!" Jace yelled as a Reaver sailed over his head.

Nicola wasted no time. She ran straight for a Reaver, something no sane person would ever consider doing. The two Locust's piloting it opened fire on her, which Nicola was able to dodge and get a few shots of her own in. The Locust in front took a bullet to the jugular and fell screaming to the ground. The Reaver slashed at Nicola with its sharp claws, and would've hit her too if Tai hadn't lobbed a grenade onto its back.

The remaining Locust was scattered like a box of raisins and the Reaver yelled in pain, it's claw missing Nicola by mere inches. She searched for a spot on the Reaver to grab onto and hoist herself up onto its back. A dangling harness strap seemed to be her best bet and she stretched out her arm to reach it. The Reaver seemed to have other ideas however and spun around, striking Nicola with the flat of its claw. The impact left her slightly dazed, and she staggered against the side of a nearby wall for support. The Reaver tried to slash at her again, but Nicola was able to roll out of the way, receiving only a light graze her armour was able to absorb.

Nicola made another grab for the harness strap and succeeded in wrapping it around her hand. She swung onto the Reavers back and grabbed its reigns. The Reaver jerked and screeched in protest, but was not able to disobey the commands of its rider and succumbed to Nicola's control. Using the Reavers sharp claws and impressive reach, Nicola was able to help the Gears fight off the Locusts in the vicinity. Once she was done with the Reaver, she had it fly low to the ground and jumped off, the impact of hitting the ground reverberating through her.

"Holy shit..." Jace gaped.

Bandana Man raised his eyebrows and whistled.

Tai seemed to be relatively unaffected by Nicola's skills with the Reaver, he merely smiled and nodded.

"I was right about you."

Nicola tried to smile, but what she ended up doing was flashing a weak grimace.

The sound of approaching footsteps caught Nicola's attention, and she turned to see what was causing the noise. It was Baird, jogging towards her and the other Gears.

"Amazon!" He called once he was within earshot.

"You're supposed to go with me to the warehouse district, we're picking up a Hammer of Dawn and bringing it to Prescott."

Nicola frowned.

"Hammer of Dawn? That satellite thing? There's no way Prescott is thinking of firing it in town."

Baird shrugged his shoulders.

"Hey, orders are orders. Now let's go."


	26. Chapter 25

**This chapter picks up shorly after the last one ended, with Nicola and Baird having headed out to do what they were told.**

"Damn! Baird, I'm out of ammo!"

"Well Amazon, I've got half a clip left, so we're pretty SOL."

"Humansssss...!"

"Amazon, get cover now!"

"Cover? What cover?"

Nicola and Baird were working their way to the warehouses, as per Prescott's order. The only problem was they were finding large groups of Locust soldiers left and right and there wasn't anything nearby worthy to be called cover. Nicola acted on reflex, spring behind the first solid object she saw. She landed with a grunt and tried to think of what her next move was going to be.

"Control, this is Baird from Delta, I'm in the bar district and in need of support."

Nicola and Baird were flanked on two sides, and from the chatter they were hearing over the Tac/Coms their were others less fortunate.

"Don't worry Blondie, I'll kick some ass for ya!" A voice rang over the channel.

Nicola gasped.

"Was that Sabre's voice?" She shouted to Baird.

Baird made some sort of reply, but his words were drowned out by a hail of gunfire. Three Sires ran wildly at Nicola from different sides. She reved up the Lancer bayonet just in time to tear into one of the Sires. However before she was able to throw its corpse off the blade, the other two were able to knock her down and began to tear into her with their claws and teeth. One of the sires was able to get under her armour and slice her abdomen open.

She screamed bloody murder and tired to throw the Sires off her, to no avail however. From the corner of her eye, Nicola saw Baird in a chainsaw duel with a Locust Drone and knew he wouldn't be able to help her. Suddenly, one of the Sires went sailing through the air and slammed with a crunching of bones against a concrete building.

"Why don't you Locust sons-a-bitches pick on someone your own damn species?"

The other Sire went flying and Nicola found herself staring into a pair of blood red eyes.

"Sabre...?" She muttered weakly.

Nicola tried to sit up and found that her body suddenly weighed about a thousand pounds.

"Ahh... Help.. Baird..." She gasped.

No sooner had the words left her lips, Nicola could hear the sickeningly sweet sound of a chainsaw tearing through armour, flesh, and bone. She gasped and turned her head to where Baird had been fighting only moments before. She was relieved to see that Baird was un-harmed. He picked up the weapon of the Drone he had killed and shot down several more nearby. Sabre looked at Nicola, and the blood flowing from her wound and called over to Baird. He came jogging over and cursed when he saw the state Nicola was in.

"Shit! Not here."

Baird quickly examined the wound, all the while a steady stream of curses escaping him.

"God you retarded rookie... Getting sliced like this... What the fuck were you thinking?"

He lifted up Nicola, grunting as he tried to carry her weight.

"Sabre, we need to get her medical attention. As much as this wound's bleeding she won't last much longer."

Sabre nodded and took point. The three of them made for the impromptu medical center that had been erected nearby. By the time they got there, Nicola was barely coherent and muttering non-sense.

"And Daniel... Said I shouldn't... Isaac... But Rivka... and Mom..."

Once Nicola was patched up however, she seemed to recover fairly quickly and was even trying to get back into the fight. The people on medical duty tried to stop her, but Nicola soon pursuaded them to let her go back to fighting. Nicola made a bee-line for where Prescott would be, and was stopped by two Onyx Guards.

"Sorry, no one past here." One said.

"Ah... You don't understand,," Nicola began. "It's important I speak to Chairman Prescott as soon as possible. Like, right now."

The other guard shook his head.

"Prescott's orders. No one passes."

Nicola sneered at them.

"Agh! Take your heads out of your asses for five minutes please! This is important!"

Nicola tried to puss past the guards, but they pushed her right back.

"Look, if you don't stop, we will use force on you." One said.

Practically growling, Nicola turned around and took a step away from them. She quickly spun back around however and took out one of the guards with a sweep to the legs. The other guard drew it's gun, but Nicola grabbed the end of it and used it to smash the guard in the face. The helmet absorbed most of the impact, but a blow to the face is still a blow to the face, and he too went down. Nicola walked past the two disoriented guards and into a building. Various officers and officials were frantically doing their job, so they paid Nicola no mind. She found the door to Prescott's office and walked right in without knocking.

Marcus and Prescott were there, having a conversation about what could be done about the sudden Locust attack. The Locust's had opened up E-Holes all around the city, and they seemed to be impossible to close.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Prescott demanded.

Nicola was out of breath and clutched her abdomen.

"Let me... See the map..." She weakly gasped.

"Guards!" Prescott yelled. "Get her out of here."

Nicola lunged forward and grabbed the front of Prescott's shirt.

"NO! I Know what's going on!"

Marcus placed a heavy hand on each of Nicola's shoulders and pulled her away.

"Know your place Rook." He said.

Nicola shrugged off Marcus' hands and turned her head to briefly glare at him before looking back at Chairman Prescott.

"Look, back at the camp I'm from the Locust's launched an attack that lasted for three days straight. The way they had the E-Holes set up was almost like the body of a flute, air and pressure could flow through them all evenly, so practically nothing could close them."

Nicola took a deep breath and continued.

"When a frag grenade is launched into a hole to close it, the thing that actually closes it is the pressure generated by the blast, which causes the walls to collapse inwards. If the Locust's are doing the same thing here, we can't get enough pressure to close the holes unless we set off a massive detonation in a center position that would cause all the space between the holes to fill, and therefore collapse in on each other."

The guards Prescott called for arrived and started to remove Nicola when Prescott stopped them.

"Wait."

He scrutinized Nicola, his eyes boring into hers.

"You sound awfully sure."

Nicola nodded.

"Yes sir, no mistaking it. I remember the battle."

Prescott looked out his window briefly before turning back to Nicola.

"Fine then. Tell me everything you remember."


End file.
